Tenant Disappeared... What now?

[Account Closed]

Hello BP community!

I have an interesting situation at my house-hacked duplex (I live in one side & rent the other).  My tenant has not payed rent this month and he is no-where to be found. I have left a number of voicemail's and text messages with the tenant asking to speak with him - he has not responded to any of them.  I have also reached out to his parents & girlfriend via Facebook asking for them to have him reach out to me.  Both replied and the mother stated he was staying with his girlfriend and sister (30-45 min drive from rented unit).

That has been going on for the past 20 days... with no response from the tenant.  

My first thought was that he did not plan on coming back, but you can tell from looking in the window that all of his personal items are still in the unit (TV, mattress, clothes, etc.).  I have not seen him at the unit during the month of September.

So here is the question: Without giving legal advice (as a disclaimer) - has anyone run into this problem? Do you have to go through the eviction process if there is no one living in the unit?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!!

Thanks,

Andrea & Tyler