Do I have any obligation to help ex tenant get items he left behind to relatives?

[adjusterjack]

I am going through the proper procedures and am planning on waiting until the notice is up before selling.

My only question is do I actually have a legal obligation to pack up they're stuff and ship it to them?

Seems to be a contradiction there.

If you comply with proper procedures for tenants' abandoned property then, no, you have no legal obligation to pack and ship.

If you don't comply then you don't have any "legal" obligation until a judge says so. And if you end up in court over it you'll spend more than you will get back if you even win.

As a former landlord (3 houses, 20 years) I very much understand the desire for revenge against a lousy tenant that cost you money and/or damaged your property. Been there. But, eventually, you just lick your wounds and move on.

You still haven't said where this $700 figure is coming from. What, exactly, are the items that you contemplate selling for $700.

 

[deyecak]

How can you sell an item that has no value?

They're sentimental items. So no value to literally anyone else, but worth something to the people involved here.

 

[deyecak]

Seems to be a contradiction there.

If you comply with proper procedures for tenants' abandoned property then, no, you have no legal obligation to pack and ship.

If you don't comply then you don't have any "legal" obligation until a judge says so. And if you end up in court over it you'll spend more than you will get back if you even win.

As a former landlord (3 houses, 20 years) I very much understand the desire for revenge against a lousy tenant that cost you money and/or damaged your property. Been there. But, eventually, you just lick your wounds and move on.

You still haven't said where this $700 figure is coming from. What, exactly, are the items that you contemplate selling for $700.

I am going through the proper procedures. As long as there's no obligation for me to ship then I'm probably just going to sell once the stuff is legally considered abandoned.

They're just sentimental items. Like pictures and things like that. Not worth $700 of course or really any amount of money. However the buyer is willing to pay me for it all.

 

[quincy]

I am going through the proper procedures. As long as there's no obligation for me to ship then I'm probably just going to sell once the stuff is legally considered abandoned.

They're just sentimental items. Like pictures and things like that. Not worth $700 of course or really any amount of money. However the buyer is willing to pay me for it all.

Follow the proper procedures and document your compliance with these procedures and you should be okay.

 

[LdiJ]

Seems to be a contradiction there.

If you comply with proper procedures for tenants' abandoned property then, no, you have no legal obligation to pack and ship.

If you don't comply then you don't have any "legal" obligation until a judge says so. And if you end up in court over it you'll spend more than you will get back if you even win.

As a former landlord (3 houses, 20 years) I very much understand the desire for revenge against a lousy tenant that cost you money and/or damaged your property. Been there. But, eventually, you just lick your wounds and move on.

You still haven't said where this $700 figure is coming from. What, exactly, are the items that you contemplate selling for $700.

It's part of the CA rules for abandoned property. Under the rules a landlord is required to send any individual item worth $700.00 or more to auction to be sold and then the money (minus expenses) has to be remitted to the county. The OP has interpreted that to say that as long as he sells the overall property for less than $700.00 he is okay.

 

[deyecak]

It's part of the CA rules for abandoned property. Under the rules a landlord is required to send any individual item worth $700.00 or more to auction to be sold and then the money (minus expenses) has to be remitted to the county. The OP has interpreted that to say that as long as he sells the overall property for less than $700.00 he is okay.

So do you mean I could sell for more since the items are worth nothing?

 

[Foamback]

By definition, if they sell for anything, they are worth something, not zero.

 

[deyecak]

By definition, if they sell for anything, they are worth something, not zero.

Yeah, but if the items were to be put up for auction they wouldn't sell. Certainly not anywhere close to $700.