Eviction & Writ of Restitution Question

[Jake Oreskovich]

Hello BP, have a strange eviction situation question! On May 31st we evicted some renters through the courts. The judge gave them 48 hours to vacate. They chose not to vacate the property so we ultimately had to request a Writ of Restitution. The judge granted the writ to us on Monday June 4th. Upon filing with the Sheriff to execute the writ I was told they are 15 days out until they would be able to get to the property. While waiting for the sheriff the renters agreed to voluntarily vacate (cash for keys). The renters used my backyard as a small junk yard so it has vehicles, motors, tools etc.....

Once they moved everything they wanted out of the home, they turned over the keys and I gave them $200 and we changed the locks. The problem is that we only got them out of the house and secured the house. Now, I have a giant junk yard to clean up outside of the house. Where this gets very sticky is there are tools outside, vehicle motors, an actual broken down car etc.... TONS of stuff. 

On the day the keys were handed over to me. The renter and I signed an agreement between the two of us stating that the renter voluntarily handed over the keys, the renter was given adequate time to move out of the home, it also states that we agreed to allow them 48 hours to get the rest of the garbage, junk, tools etc....from the outside of the home. They loaded several trucks worth of stuff during that time. Our agreement also states that after the 48 hours I will be removing the items at the expense of the renter. Both tenant and landlord signed this agreement. 

My question is, what the heck do I do with all this junk? Technically, we didn't complete the Writ of Restitution order because the tenant voluntarily vacated the home. In this instance, do I store this stuff, have a yard sale, throw it away etc....? Tenant verbally told me they don't want anything else at the home but since that time (June 7th) I have been unable to contact them and I don't know where they moved to. The sheriff somewhat told me I'm on my own because we didn't wait for the Sheriff do execute the writ, which wouldn't make any sense being they voluntarily vacated the home. 

How should I proceed in removing this junk? We also have a city code ordinance violation indicating that I must clean this property up or they will place a lien on my home. I have a roll off coming tomorrow to start throwing away trash but not sure what to do with the tools, car etc....

Any advice or help would be appreciated. I have contacted my attorney but he is also out several days so I'm stuck!

[Nicole A.]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Same in the Baltimore area. Even though the landlord is awarded judgement and the tenant is supposed to leave, they never do. You basically always have to wait for the writ (or warrant of restitution as they call it around here).

While the Sheriff is not there to remove items for you, he enforces the eviction and ensures the tenants leave the property. This is very worthwhile. You have the law on your side. They're not there to be your moving guy. They're simply there to enforce the eviction, and you have it documented (rather than some hand-written agreement on the side with your tenants that could easily be disputed if your tenants really wanted to).

When going through an eviction, you should get to know all the steps ahead of time so that you're prepared. Have you been able to find any info online when Googling your county rental laws? There's usually a procedure to handling abandoned items or it can come back to bite you.

And I could be wrong, but I doubt the tenants would do any further damage than already done in an extra 15 days. Always staying friendly, but firm and business-like tends to assist quite well in tenants not intentionally destroying the place (more).