by Nicole Scimio | Nov 3, 2023 | Uncategorized
What to Do When an Evicted Resident Leaves Belongings Behind
Evictions: Unfortunate, But Sometimes Unavoidable
As you may know, evictions are an occasional obstacle that we deal with in property management.
Maybe you’ve dealt with an eviction before as an owner, and maybe you haven’t.
If you haven’t had any experience with evictions, check out our blog post on the timeline of an eviction.
In that post, we detail out the course of the whole eviction process.
But, whether you’ve had to evict a resident before or not, you may have asked yourself the question:
“What do I do if the resident I evicted leaves their belongings behind in my property?”
While each eviction case is unique, we’ll try to break this part of the process down into the simplest terms.
What to Do if the Evicted Resident DOES Contact You
Chances are, the evicted resident will want at least some of their belongings back.
If that’s the case, the resident has 10 days to contact you and let you know that they’d like to retrieve their belongings.
If they do contact you, you must arrange for them to have access to gather their personal property within 30 days.
Note: This 30 day period begins the day of the eviction.
Once you’ve confirmed that they’ve retrieved everything they want, you’re legally allowed to do what you see fit with the the items that they leave behind.
What to Do if the Evicted Resident Does NOT Contact You
If the evicted resident fails to contact you within the initial 10 days, they forfeit their right to retrieve their belongings.
After the 10 day period of no contact, you are allowed to do what you see fit with the items they left behind.
However, to be on the safe side, we recommend you hold onto their items for the full 30 day period.
In Simplest Terms:
Eviction occurs → Resident has 10 days to contact you
If you are contacted → Resident has 30 days to get their belongings
If you are not contacted → After 10 days, you can handle their belongings how you see fit
All in All…
While evictions are not a “fun” part of owning a rental property, they do come with the territory.
The good news is that we can help!
We’ve gained expertise in all aspects of property management, including evictions, over the past 40+ years that we’ve been in business.
Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss your unique situation!
Disclaimer: We are not attorneys, and this is not to be considered legal advice. We encourage you to contact your attorney for guidance on your particular situation. This article is meant to provide a general rule or procedure on how this process works.
This is the process as we understand it in Pennsylvania and may not pertain to other states or specific cities within Pennsylvania. We always encourage a consultation with a local attorney who knows and understands Landlord Tenant Law for specific locations.
by Arbors Management, Inc. | Feb 24, 2020 | Blog, Property Management Education
By: Nick Griffith, Director of Conventional Housing
At Arbors Management, we believe the best way to avoid the eviction process and troublesome residents is by conducting a strict screening process before a resident even moves in.
Our resident screening process includes a close look at income, criminal histories, and credit histories. We have a rent collection process that works, and if eviction becomes necessary – we have a process for that, too.
Collecting Rent from Pittsburgh Residents
Before the residency even begins, we set the expectations with the resident about how we anticipate rent being paid. We let them know that rent is due on the first. They know when and how to pay it, and they know what the consequences will be if it’s not paid on time.
If payment is not received after the fifth of the month, we assess a late fee. We also send formal letters to the resident notifying them that rent is late. We tell them how much they owe and that we expect an immediate payment. This letter is sent to document the late rent. In addition to the letter, we also call, email, and text residents throughout the month to make sure they understand what they owe and why we are trying to collect it.
Filing a Landlord Resident Complaint
In the event a resident doesn’t pay rent, we file a Landlord Resident Complaint at the local magistrate. Typically, we will file this during the first week of the second month of rent being late. This means it will still be less expensive for the resident to catch up with rent than it would be to move out and find a new place to live.
We receive a court date, and we’ll go to court on your behalf to obtain a judgment in the amount owed plus court fees. Once this judgment is issued, the residents have 10 days to pay the rent. If they don’t pay the full amount within those 10 days, we can file an Order of Possession. Once we do that, the court gives the resident an additional 10 days to pay the rent. The eviction can only commence on the 11th day after the possession order is filed.
Professional Pittsburg Property Management
If the resident appeals the judgment, the case could go to a higher court level. At that point, we would need to involve an attorney. We are professional property managers, but we aren’t attorneys, so we cannot represent you at a higher court.
Many owners want to know what we charge for these services and the time we spend on paperwork and court appearances. The answer is – we don’t believe we should charge you for a bad resident or someone not paying rent. Our philosophy is that you should only be charged on the rent we collect. So, there’s no fee for us filing the Landlord Resident Complaint. The courts do have fees that you’ll be responsible for paying, but those will be passed along to the resident for your reimbursement.
We avoid evictions and late rental payments whenever possible. If you have any questions about our professional Pittsburg property management services, please contact us at Arbors Management.
