Mentally Ill Tenant Found, Apartment Abandoned....Now What?

[Ben Gleason]

I have multiple posts discussing this tenant, but I will summarize.

I had a tenant living below me and over a period of 3 months he became more and more delusional.  He believed people were out to kill him, people were watching him, he was the victim of a mass conspiracy.  He was either Bi-Polar 1, Schizophrenic, or was suffering from dellusions from too much Meth.    He put cameras up facing the outside, and the day after Thanksgiving he vanished.

I eventually found a relative who informed he me that he left the county and is now living with a relative to get the help he needs.  He did not explain to me what the exact cause was.

I was able to speak with him a bit, and I let him know that we would use his security deposit to cover the rent and that there would be no penalty for breaking the lease early.  He agreed that would be best.  I let him know that we can not afford to have the apartment vacant and that we needed all of his items out.

I have not seen anyone to move belongings, and I suspect that since he thinks people in this city are out to kill him, that he may not be willing  (or even be too impaired) to drive the hour and a half over here to move the belongings.

with that said, we have checked the apartment to make sure stove is off, water isnt on etc etc, but at the end of the month if nothing has happened, what do I do with his belongings??

NYS isnt too kind to landlords, and I dont want to potentially break any laws.  I certaintly cant afford to not rent the apartment let alone pay for storage for this stuff