If you’ve given the tenant reasonable notice and they haven’t come back for the property, you can dispose of it. To be safe, you may wish to:
- sell the property at a public sale
- publish notice of the sale in a prominent place, including a newspaper with daily, local circulation, and
-send the tenant a final notice that states where and when you will sell the property.
If the tenant owes you money for back rent, property damage, or reasonable storage costs -- and the tenant’s security deposit didn’t cover everything -- you can take the balance out of the sale proceeds. If there’s money left over, you’d be wise to keep funds from sale proceeds in trust for the tenant for at least one year before pocketing the extra cash.
If there is insufficient money to cover back rent, property damage, or storage costs, you may sue the tenant in small claims court. See New York Landlord’s Guide to Security Deposit Disputes in Small Claims Court for details.