Tenant evicted - Can I move tenants belongings to property garage?

Hi all,

Maybe you can point me in the right direction here.
I have an IP in NSW. A tenant after months of not paying rent was evicted last week.
I want to sell the property and start doing open homes as soon as possible. (before the silly season starts hopefully).
The tenant left most of her belongings in the house!

Legally the tenant has 2 weeks to pick them up and I have to keep them for her.

my feeling is that she will pick some of her belongings and leave most of them behind. She is not answering calls so far. So not looking promising.

Since I want to show the property without her stuff, is it safe for me to put all her belongings in the garage?
She can grab them from the garage when she is coming for them and I'll be able to start the open homes.

My current property manager said that should be OK but I'd love to have a second opinion to avoid running into trouble.

Thanks!

 

I feel like I'm going to be in this position shortly too (hoarder tenants vacating and likely to leave a heap of crap behind) so I'm keen to hear some opinions too!

 

Your PM is correct. I'd make sure that the garage is lockable so that the ex-tenant's possessions are kept safe and secure for the 14 days post eviction.

 

I had a similar situation once. The tenants belongings were then stolen. I had a garage sale not long after lol.

 

Yes, you can store in the garage, however if the furniture is in good nick, could you use it for staging purposes?

 

Goods left behind by tenants

 

Thanks Phoenix, that's what the PM said at the beginning but now she says if the goods get damaged or lost the tenant could sue them and myself.
After checking around and what has been said here, I don't believe that's totally true if I can keep the garage locked.
A bit in two minds at the moment.

 

Thanks Skater, I rather not. They are not that great furniture anyway

 

Yes , your Honour. Even though I had not paid the rent for 3 months or any of my utility bills I felt sure my Landlord would water my plants and look after my furniture whilst I was incarcerated as I really liked the place and want to continue living there when I get out .........

Seriously, just get the tenants crap out of the property and move on. Give them a chance to collect but unless it has some some value treat it like a verge collection and advise them accordingly.

 

We do have to keep things worth over $1,000 up here, and things are rarely worth over $1,000.

If the law is different down there, lock it in the garage and move on. How are their things safer in the house than they are in the garage???

 

See if you can find some form of tenants ID, rent storage in her name and move everything there, provide address for her to pick up............

Ok, garage should be fine.
Keep track of all disposal and removal costs to claim against tenant (or at tax time).

 

Oops, fixed, thanks!