Eviction/Property Removal in Houston

[Joseph West]

In Houston, Texas and have a tenant who does not have a current lease, and agreed to move out due to not being able to pay rent (a full month late).  We never legally filed any eviction, but the tenant did move out 48 hours ago, but has left several things back in the property.  They have date of when they will be able to afford to hire a mover.  The tenant did surrender their keys to me also.  

Am I legally able to move the property to the street and notify the tenant?  When I stated that we may do this to the tenant so we could rent it promptly, I received an email in writing, "I understand."  We want to make sure we cover our *** for the future.  Thanks!

[Fred Heller]

Ah the old unclaimed property issue. In Texas you can't just put it on the curb. You're required to store it and give the tenant notice that they can claim the property within a certain period of time (off the top of my head I think it's 60 days). After the notice period you can give it to Goodwill, sell it, or do whatever you want. You can also charge them for the costs associated with storing the property.

In the real world, chances are if they left the property, they don't care about it. But if you want to follow the letter of the Texas Property Code, then you'll store it and give them the opportunity to claim it.