When Tenants Leave Belongings Behind

If you are a residential landlord, you cannot take or keep a tenant’s belongings until the rental agreement has ended. If you wrongfully take a tenant’s personal belongings while the tenant is still renting from you, you may be liable for damages and your actions may relieve the tenant of liability for unpaid rent and other claims. After a rental agreement has ended, however, you have the right to dispose of a tenant’s abandoned personal belongings, but only after following very specific rules.

Under Oregon law, a tenant’s belongings are considered abandoned in one of three ways: (1) The tenancy has ended by termination or expiration of a rental agreement or by relinquishment or abandonment of the premises and the landlord reasonably believes under all the circumstances that the tenant has left the personal property upon the premises with no intention of asserting any further claim to the premises or to the personal property; (2) The tenant has been absent from the premises continuously for seven days after termination of a tenancy by a court order that has not been executed; or (3) The landlord receives possession of the premises from the sheriff after enforcing an eviction judgment issued by the court.

Once the tenant’s personal belongings are considered abandoned, the landlord has the right and obligation to deal with them. Regardless of how the belongings were abandoned, the landlord cannot dispose of them until after meeting several important requirements. The only exception is if the landlord and the tenant agree in writing that the landlord can dispose of the property, which agreement must be signed not more than seven days before the tenancy ends, or after the tenancy is over.

Your first responsibility as a landlord is to give the tenant a written notice explaining that their belongings are considered abandoned and have been safely stored. The notice must explain that the tenant must contact you within 5 days after personal delivery of the notice or 8 days after mail delivery to arrange for the removal of the belongings, or else you may sell them or throw them away (45 days for manufactured dwellings and floating homes). The notice must tell the tenant how to contact you, and that you will make the belongings available for removal by appointment at reasonable times. The notice must also explain that, under certain circumstances, there could be a storage charge the tenant must pay. Finally, if you think the fair market value of the tenant’s belongings is worth $1000 or less, or so low that the cost of storage and sale probably exceeds the amount that would be realized from the sale, the notice must state that you will throw or give away any belongings not claimed within the required time (the value for recreational vehicles is $4,000 or less, manufactured dwellings or floating homes are $8,000 or less).

The landlord must either have the notice personally delivered to the tenant or sent by first-class mail to the tenant at all three of the following locations: the rental unit with “please forward on the envelope, any post office box the landlord knows about, and the most recent forwarding address known to the landlord. A copy of the notice must also be mailed by first-class and certified mail to any lienholder or owner of an RV, manufactured home, or floating home. For abandoned manufactured homes and floating homes, you must also send a copy of the notice to the county tax assessor and tax collector in the county where the abandoned manufactured home or floating home is located.

As a landlord, your responsibility is to store the tenant’s abandoned belongings in a safe place until the tenant removes them or the required time period passes. This place could be the rental unit, a commercial storage unit, or a secured garage, for example. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule: You may immediately dispose of rotting food, and you may allow an animal control agency or humane society to remove abandoned pets or livestock.

If you follow the statutory notice requirements and use reasonable care in storing the tenant’s things, you cannot be held responsible to the tenant for any loss resulting from handling or storage. If you fail to follow these requirements, the tenant will have the right to recover any losses, and the tenant will be released from other claims. If you deliberately ignore the notice and storage requirements, you could be liable for twice the tenant’s actual damages, plus attorney fees. Lienholders or owners of abandoned property can also sue for actual damages.

Once the notice has been delivered, the tenant has at least 5 to 8 days, depending on the method of delivery of the notice, during which to contact you to remove the abandoned personal belongings. The tenant may contact you in person, by mail, by email, or by phone. You then must allow 15 additional days for the tenant to collect the belongings. The time period is longer for manufactured homes and floating homes (30 days from the date of contact, or 45 days from the date of the abandonment notice, whichever is longer). You must act in good faith to make the belongings available to the tenant at a reasonable time and place. You may require the tenant to pay removal and storage costs, but not any other charges, before releasing the belongings. However, you cannot charge the tenant if you had the sheriff enforce an eviction judgment against the tenant.

If the tenant does not claim the belongings or contact you, you may sell the belongings at a public or private sale. If the belongings have a fair market value of $1000 or less or cannot be sold for a profit, you can throw them away or give them away to anyone unrelated to you. Any sale must comply with special rules. There are also special rules for holding an abandonment auction for manufactured homes and floating homes. If you reach the point of holding an auction, you should discuss the procedures with an attorney.

Finally, be aware that there are abandoned property forms available online from landlord trade associations in Oregon that will help you comply with these requirements. They are an inexpensive way to make sure you follow your legal obligations regarding abandoned tenant property.