Dealing with Abandonment in Your Rental Property

Abandonment occurs when your tenants abruptly leave the property, usually because they are not paying rent. There are two different types of abandonment, and in today’s blog we are going to explain them and tell you how to handle each type of abandonment.

1 Day Abandonment

When the tenant leaves without making a rent payment and takes all their stuff with them, it’s a 1 day abandonment and it’s easy to manage. You will show up at the property after one day and enter with your key, as your lease should stipulate is acceptable. Before going in, call out that the owner is checking for occupancy. When you get no response and you’re able to see that the place is empty, you’ll know the tenant has abandoned the home. Rent might be past due, but at least your tenant is gone. You can immediately take possession of the property, clean it up and turn it around. You’ll move on quickly.

15 Day Abandonment

When a tenant is late with rent, you post a 3 Day Notice to Pay or Quit. After those days pass, you go over to the property to check out occupancy because the tenants have not paid and they have not contacted you. You want to see if they are still there before you continue with your legal action. After knocking and getting no response, you can enter with your key and stick your head in the door to see if anyone is there. When there are no visible signs that the tenant has been in the property recently, but their stuff is still there, you’ll have to do a 15 Day Abandonment. Look for signs that they are not living there anymore. There might be rotting food in the fridge. After 15 days, you need to go to the property and post an Abandoned Premise form on the door. This gives the tenants 24 hours to get their stuff that’s still in there. When the 24 hours pass and the belongings are still there, you can move it out. You’ll have to store it for the number of days required by Utah law, but you will have an empty property and you can take possession.

If you have any questions about how to handle abandonment in your rental home, please contact us at Advanced Solutions Property Management, and we’ll be happy to help you.