Tenant possibly abandoned property prior to lease expiration

[Greg Whitman]

I wanted to get folks opinions here on this situation.  I have a property in Southern Maryland that I have now been to court multiple times to get the tenants to pay their back rent.  They have consistently stayed 2 months behind since April.  We had a judgement in September, and the eviction was scheduled.  The morning of the eviction, the tenants came up with the money needed in the judgement to avoid foreclosure.  However, as it was literally just hours before the Sheriff was scheduled to arrive, I could not cancel the movers I hired.  So, once again, back to court to get caught up again.  This time we go to mediation and agree on a payment arrangement.  The tenants made one of the 4 payments due.  Today we go back to court and only one shows up, domestic couple split up).  Judge granted me a judgement for rent and late fees owed, no previous court costs.  The one tenant states he has moved out of the property, and I have not seen his partner since November.  As of today (12-21-2022), they have 10 days left on the lease.  Should I consider they have abandoned the property and start moving forward with inspections/repairs or just wait the 10 days until the lease has ended before I take any further action?

[Nathan Gesner]

YES! You need to visit the property to determine if it's been abandoned. If it appears abandoned, change the locks and take control of the property immediately.

When Tenants abandon, they often leave a lot of stuff behind. It may be difficult to tell if it's abandoned. You can usually confirm by looking at what was left behind and what is missing. If it's truly abandoned, you will notice most/all clothing is gone, there's no high-value items like flat-screen TV or computer, all the food is gone or old, most kitchen items are missing, etc. You also won't find any abandoned vape pens, bongs, or cigarettes because they always have room for those. The furniture left behind usually consists of stained mattresses and trashy furniture.

It's easier to share a guide: https://www.baymgmtgroup.com/b...

Record what you find with pictures/video so they can't come back later and sue you for stealing their rare collection of bonzai trees, the freezer full of kobe beef, or grandma's ashes.