Storing of tenants abandoned property

[Michael Taborek]

i am curious about some processes behind the storing of tenants personal property left after the tenant leaves.

I came into an odd mishap at my rental this past month, we had an issue with an uninhabitable situation in the home where we had to get the tenants to a new home and break lease. We helped them find a place and returned their deposit and gave them that months rent off in full, we also paid for their application fees and moving expenses for the new place.

They tenants left stuff in the home and asked if it could stay for a few weeks, I agreed and told them a date that ends next weekend. In the weeks prior to this, I talked to the tenants about returning the keys, paying their two month behind water bill (water was shut off) and having a plan to grab their items.

I was met with silence a large portion of the time or a simple one liner text stating we will get to it... I then messaged them via text after I receive a nasty message and they blocked me... At that point based on the fact it had been several weeks of no contact or plan, non payment of water leading to shutoff and them ignoring me and not returning my keys. I deemed it as abandoned property and notified them again by phone and email (which they did not answer) that I would be storing their items per wa state legislature section RCW 59.18.310 regarding abandoned property. 

In this i have safely moved and stored their items and have sent a letter telling them of this via certified mail with a 45 day period to reclaim their items at the cost of storage. Just about three hours after I had stored the items and paid for the unit... The tenant sends a text saying they want to pick up their stuff from the home... 

Now here is my question...

1. Am I in the right for considering the tenants have abandoned their property, after ignoring me (blocked my phone) and constantly not answer calls or messages? 

2. Am I not following proper procedure for storing of items in consideration to abandonment when I myself texted them telling them they do indeed have a few weeks to come grab their items and I have ended that period several days before hand. As it pertains to question one, they no longer live there, water is turned off and They had never made plans nor made intentions to pick anything up for several weeks and ignored my calls and texts (by ignore I mean blocked)

The big question is since I gave them a time frame in writing and have ended it a week early due to inactivity and the blocking of my phone. I assumed they were in abandonment of the property as they wished to not contact me about it and never gave me plans of action for the items to be picked up. Along side they had told my neighbors when they initially moved out that they don't want what was left behind.