Who owns abandoned cars left on a property you purchased?

[Stephanie Jacobi]

An investor friend of mine is purchasing a wholesale deal here in Kentucky, and I plan to provide part of the financing.

The conundrum is that the former tenants who lived in this property apparently left everything they owned behind, including two vehicles. (Given the syringes left inside one of them, they were either diabetic or drug users....) While the cars aren’t anything to write home about, if they were to operate okay I’d venture to guess they’d be worth about 5 or 6K for both. They have been abandoned in the driveway for several months or more.

I realize my friend can’t sell these cars without owning the titles to them (nor can he even get into them easily since they’re locked and no keys were found). But what should/could he do with them? You can’t even take a car to a junkyard without a legal title.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!