Moving tenant's furniture legally in CA

[Mark Hu]

Lets say a tenant gave notice, but did not move out their belongings on the due date, preventing another tenant from moving in. I believe in CA I may move the stuff out and put it in storage, correct? Have any of you had to do this and did you use a regular moving company to do this?

[Account Closed]

If the tenant has obviously moved out and just left some of his stuff behind, then you must treat it as abandoned property. You must store it for 18 days, send a letter to the tenant with a description of the property and how he can get his stuff back. He has to pay the storage fees. If he doesn't get his things within the 18 days, and it is worth less than $300, you can keep it or throw it out. If worth more, then you have to contact the county treasurer and arrange to auction it.

You can use a moving company if you like. Make sure you make a detailed list of everything being moved, and take photos. That way he can't say he left behind boxes of diamonds, or whatever. :)