Tenant goes to jail, what can or do I do with their stuff?

[Conor Gallivan]

My tenant has gone to jail. Likely longer term. Who is responsible for their belongings? 

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Conor Gallivan:

My tenant has gone to jail. Likely longer term. Who is responsible for their belongings? 

This has happened to me many times, most recently six months ago.

Eviction is the wrong approach because they are already out. This is technically classified as "abandonment" because they left the rental and their belongings with no apparent ability to return.

If they've given you a point of contact, start there. DO NOT give anyone access until you're certain they are willing to remove everything, not just the flat screen and laptop. You'll be amazed how many people have claimed they will empty the rental only to discover they've taken a few items of value and then left you with everything else.

If they haven't provided a point of contact, or if you want to confirm the point of contact, you can always visit them at the location where they are detained and ask them. I just had two tenants arrested for murder a few months ago so I typed up a form letter telling them their property would be considered abandoned and they could either let me dispose of everything via auction, donation, or disposal, or they could provide me with names of people authorized to remove it. They gave me six names and I had it emptied out in a week.

If you can't find anyone, then you can consider the property abandoned after a certain amount of time. I recommend you speak with an attorney to get the specific statutes and then keep a copy for future reference. In my state, anything abandoned can be disposed of as I see fit. I've done it many times and usually sell anything of value, dispose of everything else. If there's anything of sentimental value, I'll hold it in storage and attempt to get it back to them in exchange for my expenses, unpaid balances, etc.

In the future, I recommend asking all your tenants for a single point of contact that they authorize to remove their belongings and square away their accounts in the case of death, incarceration, incapacation, or abandonment. I request this when they sign the lease and then every year when they sign a renewal. It works about 90% of the time and I had to use it at least ten times in the past year.