Tenants just left?

[Kelsey Bramer]

Hey all. Does anybody know what my rights are as an owners of my tenants just without word?  Just bought the house. They were there day of closing, one week later, nobody is there and everything looks to be gone.  I don’t have any contact info for them. Thanks!  

[Erin Church]

Hey Kelsey,

Congrats! (No, seriously!) Having inherited tenants leave and take all their stuff is almost always a good thing! Check into your local laws, but usually it's considered abandoned after a certain number of days of them not responding/it appearing empty. 

Post that you're going to enter to do an inspection with whatever notice your lease says. Then, go ahead and get a list of improvements that you need to do (maybe just paint if it's in great condition, maybe an opportunity for some upgrades). When you purchased, the deposits should have been given to you (if your agent wrote it in). So, that will obviously become yours. Start getting quotes for the work, materials and get started as soon as you're "in the clear". 

Also, change the locks as soon as you're in the clear/it's officially abandoned. I'm a fan of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008...

Easy to rekey between tenants and there's a second cylinder for landlord's key.