Updated over 1 year ago on . Most recent reply
If tenant leaves items behind
Hello all, I'm located in MA. Hoping someone with some state-level context can chime in here. Had a lease with a tenant in one of my apartments which ran through 4-30-2024. They asked a few months back about possibility of moving out early, specifically for 2/29. I told them sure, if I can find someone qualified to move in for March 1st. Did some showings last month, found someone who really wants the apartment to move in for March 1st. Before signing the lease with these new folks, I re-confirmed with existing tenant that they still wanted 2/29 move-out date, and that they were able to have the apartment move-in ready condition for that date. They confirmed, we signed a lease amendment stating that it would end for 2-29 and therefore they agree to have the apartment move-in ready no later than 2-29.
I'm just thinking ahead, say that the 29th or so rolls around and they tell me they're moved out and there's some items left behind. My understanding is that so long as they confirm that they're moved out and give me the keys, I'm well within my rights to just have a junk remover / trash company take whatever was not there to begin with, and deduct that from the security deposit? From my research, the only gray area would be whether or not the tenant continues to plan to reside there / has ended their residency or not?