What to do with old tenant's stuff

[shumashi.livejournal.com]

I've been living in my current household for a year now, and the previous tenant still has a large amount of belongings here, which he claims to still want. About two rooms full. It's a bit excessive.

My housemate/landlord and I are resigned to have to deal with it ourselves. We'll do the polite "Here is your final deadline" thing with the old tenant, but I'm not entirely sure what we should do when he doesn't come to get it, which he almost certainly won't. I am looking for ways for it to go away at a minimum of fuss and expense to us.

It is fairly low quality stuff—neither of us wants any of it—but a charity might make use of some of it. Are there organizations that would come and cart it away to a good home? Or should I be looking into junkmen? (Does modern society have junkmen? It sounds so Charles Dickens.) My more-benevolent-in-this-particular-matter landlord was thinking of renting storage, moving it all there, paying for the first month in cash, handing the old tenant the key and declaring the matter resolved, but that seems both time-consuming and expensive to me, not to mention I'm not convinced you can rent storage and pass it over to someone else without their cooperation.

Advice and recommendations would be most helpful.

Comments

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

If your housemate/landlord is willing to drive it to a storage facility, why not drive it to the owner's home and just leave it there? Or, has this person moved out of the area?

[shumashi.livejournal.com]

Hmm. There is a certain poetry in that. And he lives right near Teele Square, so it's quite close.

The trick is that is his housemates are two close friends of mine, and I suspect that would be shifting the burden to them, as old tenant yet again fails to deal.

Still. If we did the whole, "On September 15th this stuff will be showing up on your lawn unless you make other arrangements" thing, that might be enough to finally spur him into action.

I shall consider it if all else fails. Thank you for responding!

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

why go through the difficulty and expense of making it simple for the ex tenant? I'd say "pick it up by [date] or it's ours to do as we please, which means we'll either sell it, donate it, or it goes out in our trash on [date+trash day]"

[cravereality.livejournal.com]

Agree with this. I've had the same thing happen. I ended up giving a former roommate's mini-fridge to my brother to take to college (she kept swearing she'd come back to get it, but she never actually came to notice that it was no longer there) and dumping a bunch of stuff that another roommate left there. It's not his storage space anymore, and I think as long as you give him fair warning, it's yours to do with as you wish. You have the apartment and you need the space.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

there are totally junkmen out there now. besides the folks who crawl all over the city doing industrial-level trashpicking, craigslist generally has some, and if nothing else, there's 1800gotjunk

you might want to poke around on tenant's rights websites and/or suggest your landlord talk to a lawyer. at the very least, what did the previous lease say about tenant's belongings?

[spacehawk.livejournal.com]

This -- you may be liable if you simply throw it out/give it away, even with notice. I would check with a lawyer on this first.

[squirrelitude]

I'm startled at the idea that there could be anything legally sketchy about giving notice (say, a month out?), then dealing with the junk via Craigslist broadcast. I really, really hate unintuitive laws -- and would definitely be interested in what OP finds out.

ETA: It occurs to me that a current tenant getting rid of stuff left in common space might be different (legally) from the landlord throwing it out.

[spacehawk.livejournal.com]

I do not practice landlord tenant law. But I know that MA has some of the most pro-tenant laws in the country, so I would check!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2321263_dispose-tenants-belongings-right-way.html

http://www.malawforum.com/content/when-tenants-personal-property-considered-abandoned

I don't know how it changes things if it's a current tenant disposing of the possessions -- the landlord may have to be the one to do it.

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I've been in a similar situation. You should be aware that there are all sorts of legal landmines you might be tripping here. Chances are, moving the stuff out yourself is fine simply because nobody ever wants to get into legal trouble. Hiring a lawyer is usually more expensive than any of the other options, so everybody wants to avoid it. Still though...

It is very, very hard to evict a tenant. I understand that your previous tenant has 'moved out', but still, the legal barriers that are there to make it hard to evict a tenant may still apply to your case - specifically, there are many legal procedures that keep a landlord from being allowed to move a tenant's stuff out of his house. I guess that depends on the legal definition if 'tenant' and whether or not these laws still apply if your tenant has a legal residence elsewhere... When I looked this stuff up, the procedure involved serving the tenant with some legal papers, going before a judge, and then getting some sort of government marshal to move the stuff out of the house - you're not allowed to move the stuff out yourself. Moving it out yourself can get you used for big $$$.

It's not a fun situation to be in. :/ good luck!

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

Ya the sense I got when I looked into this a while ago was that a tenant who doesn't voluntarily quit has to be evicted, even if the lease has expired. (Obvs in this light there may be back rent to be collected, ha ha, ya right.) There are provisions for "abandoned" property and apartments, but I recall it's tough to argue abandonment when you are able to contact the tenant.

If you can get the ex-roommate to agree to the storage plan, it might be the best option, just because as big of a hassle as it is, not to mention the expense, it might be less bad than housing court. If they won't agree, I would dot every i and cross every t to make sure you're doing it by the book. And who knows, maybe a summons will be the wake-up call they need.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Other people have covered the legal issue of landlord evicting tenants, which also includes their junk.
( http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/tenant-moved-out-but-left-personal-stuffs-with-no--615443.html )

The junk companies will take stuff away, but you have to pay them a fee.

Big brother big sister will come do pickups, including large things.

[ron_newman]

Give the EX-tenant an ultimatum to remove his stuff, and make it clear that the date you set is final and irrevocable.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

If your landlord / housemate is willing to move this stuff you might consider donating it to this group in Acton http://www.hgrm.org/ (http://www.hgrm.org/) They take all kinds of stuff that the Salvation Army, Goodwill and the others don't. I've donated to them before and they are super helpful and really well run (from what I can tell). The only downside is that they will not pick up in Somerville.

I'm no lawyer but make sure that your alert the former roommate in writing that this is last call for their stuff. You might even consider certified mail to CYA.

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

Start sending bills for storage rental to the former tenant. Then turn the unpaid
bills over to a collection agency...

[desirée ouellette (from livejournal.com)]

Just got a flyer yesterday that Big Brothers/Sisters will be picking up in my neighborhood (off Cameron, between Teele & Davis) on August 24th. Not sure if this fits your timing but they may be able to take some off the stuff off your hands.