Eviction needed if lease expired?

[Jonathan C.]

Hi BP,

I had a tenant and their lease expired in April. Been trying to contact them through May and they haven't been returning calls. Also, their mailbox looks like it's been piling up so may not even be at the property anymore. 

If their lease expired in April, do I need to still go through an eviction process or can I just take back the property? 

Also, can anyone let me know how evictions go in Pittsburgh? Or point me to where I can learn more? Thanks!

- Jonathan 

[Annette Schneider]

Since the lease is expired though and it appears they've moved out, have someone put a notice to enter on the front door for the next day. On the next day, someone needs to go in inspect the place.  If they've left the keys and moved most if not all items out, I'd assume they've moved out. By law, the property is yours and you only need to evict them if it appears they still live there. If it appears that they didn't move but haven't been home in a long time, I would attempt to find out if they're in the hospital, jail or deceased. Sometimes emergency contact will know if they moved or not and also those emergency contacts can get more information from the hospitals in some cases. If you can't find them and they left all or most of their belongings, then proceed with eviction. I had to evict my first tenants and it was pretty straight forward to evict for nonpayment.  I'd have to research the exact steps again but before proceeding, find out if they moved or not.