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What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? - Landlord Forum thread 342792

What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Anonymous (West Virginia) on February 4, 2016 @22:53

                              
When cleaning places out, I will come across full sets of dishes, working toasters, full sets of silverware, etc...

What do you do with this?

Do you give it to the next tenant for free? As long as it's clean and sanitized, what's the harm?

Why waste it?
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Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Anonymous (ca) on February 4, 2016 @23:41 [ Reply ]
Once you've stored it for the proper amount of time, you could do whatever you want with it.
Using someone else's dishes and silverware seems a little too personal for me, but I'm sure others wouldn't mind.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Garry (Iowa) on February 5, 2016 @00:08 [ Reply ]
Anything left behind is still the tenants possessions, for the time being. Smaller items like you mentioned, can be boxed up and stored in a closet, an attic, or a garage or basement, if you have the room. Store them for 6-12 months, then they are yours to do with as you wish. If you discover them before you have sent the Sec. dep. letter to them, you could list the items in the letter, and tell the former T you are storing them , and they must contact you to get them back. Once the 6-12 months are up, use them yourself, sell them at a garage sale, give them as gifts to friends, relatives, or just give them to Good Will or the Salvation Army. If it's a whole bunch of larger furniture or other items, you may need to rent a storage unit for 6 months. Then dispose of them as you wish. The point is, you have made a reasonable effort to contact the former T and save their things for them. It then becomes their responsibility to get them back if they want them. The biggest thing LLs need to worry about now days though, are bedbugs or cockroaches hiding in the Ts items, and then they end up infecting YOUR home once you store them away.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by AnonymousFL on February 5, 2016 @02:34 [ Reply ]
In my experience, storing items for 30 days is usually sufficient, but I have seen places that suggest 60 days for military personel.

Once thing to consider is one man's trash is another man's treasure. What you see as trash may not be. I think the safe bet is to box up anything that can be stored safely and keep it or 60 days. While boxing things up, take pictures of each item noting any damage. You will be thankful you did when a tenant comes back and accuses you of damage or says that Item X should be there. Fortunately, if they have turned the unit over and then come back later for those forgotten items, they don't have much leverage.

Once the storage time period has lapsed, you can do whatever you like with the items (in your state anyway). Unfortunately, getting fees for storing items has been a hit and miss prospect in my experience, so I would not rent an offsite storage spot for a tenants items.

Do keep in mind that you can charge time spent sorting their stuff out as part of the check-out charges. I suggest trying to record that time separately in case you end up in court and have to explain the excessive time spent cleaning.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Nicole (PA) on February 5, 2016 @05:52 [ Reply ]
do you have state specific laws? here, if the tenant's aren't affirmative in letting me know they want the items, I can get rid of them in 10 days ... no need to wait the long time periods stated by others.

After whatever time period passes, "display" the items to the curb ... depending on how much stuff, I put some boxes out there. No one is grossed out ... folks appear like vultures taking the things so that I have very little to put in the trash can.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Anonymous on February 5, 2016 @08:58 [ Reply ]
After following my state's abandonment law (30 day for items valued $300 and up, immediate disposal of perishables & items valued under $300), I donate them to Goodwill or Salvation Army so I can use the tax deduction for the charitable contribution. If that's not useful to you, you can do as another poster said and set items on the curb for pick up by neighbors or do a curb alert on Craigslist; this usually results in the items vanishing post-haste.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by MrDan (Georgia) on February 5, 2016 @15:23 [ Reply ]
West Virginia has some strict requirements for disposal of tenants abandoned property, including posting and mailing written notices and special requirements for military personnel. Also different procedures apply depending on how the tenancy ended along with storage requirements and time limits.

West Virginia Abandonment of property

It's important that a landlord know their State landlord tenant laws as disposing or improper storage could result in claims that you have stolen or improperly destroyed a tenant’s property.

A landlord should never just act without knowing what the law requires of them. Acting on bad information and or just guessing, could be an expensive lesson to learn.

Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Jim (RI) on February 5, 2016 @17:26 [ Reply ]
I've given tenants a quick text or call to ask them if they have any interest in it, assuming it wasn't an eviction. I've had tenants leave behind fairly high end dinnerware and silverware sets that I still use to this day :)

If i have no need for whats left behind( I usually don't), I'll throw it in the basement for several months in case another tenant or someone I know wnats it. Otherwise, I throw it out but its usually picked up by someone.
Re: What do you do with old tenants dinnerware, etc? by Stephanie (TX) on February 10, 2016 @18:08 [ Reply ]
I once moved out of an apartment and forgot to empty the dishwasher before I packed the kitchen. The landlord called me and I was able to go retrieve my dishes. I was grateful for the head's up.

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