Tenant's lease expired, hasn't completely moved out

[Greg Walsh]

I own a rental property in Connecticut and have yet to find the legal answer to my specific circumstance. I have a tenant whose lease expired 30 days ago, they moved almost all of their stuff out last weekend but some remained. I naively gave them their security deposit back without them giving me the keys.  They said they would come back to clean the apartment a couple of times but are not doing so.  Do I have the right to retake possession of the apartment, get it ready to rent again?  I think I'm supposed to mail them notification that in 10 days I will put their stuff in storage for 30 days, but I don't know if I can do that now or if I'm supposed to wait a prescribed amount of time after they started moving out.

Thank you

[Kyle J.]

If they still have the keys to the property and belongings inside the property then they likely still have legal possession of the property.  But check your state laws on what's considered abandonment.  Do you have it in writing that they've moved out?  Did they shut off the utilities?  Those sort of things may help your case, but I'd suggest you consult a local attorney to be sure since this is an unusual situation and it sounds like you're unfamiliar with landlord-tenant laws.  You don't want to mess it up even more and end up being held liable to your tenant for the cost of their belongings or possibly an illegal eviction.