Roommate Changing Mind About Taking Over Lease

[ZMaine]

My question involves a roommate in the State of: Iowa

Ok, so I moved into an apartment with a friend of mine named Cody on January 1st, 2009 and I wasn't added onto the lease and I intended on signing the new lease in August and he would move out. And everything was fine.

Somewhere in the middle of March, I found a friend named Korey that would pick up the new lease with me, and he moved into our apartment at that time and we split the rent evenly. And everything was fine.

Until...

At the end of April, Korey's car had some problems and he had to get it fixed cause he works a half hour away from the apartment, and because of that he couldn't pay May's rent. Me and Cody agreed to pay his share of the rent and he said he would pay us back, I still have the text messages saying he would.

Cody moved out on June 1st because he was moving to his Frat House and had to move early, which was fine. The lease was still in his name though, which I had no problem with as we were planning on taking over the new lease in August.

But...

In the middle of June, Korey had hinted that he might not be able to afford living at the apartment, but never gave me a direct answer. Then on June 27th, he sent me a text message saying he couldn't afford July's rent.

He had barely been here at all anyway and he doesn't want to pay for a place he's never at, which makes sense, but all of his stuff is still here.

Since we both hadn't signed anything, and I had promised Cody I would pay the rent so his credit wouldn't go down, I payed the full rent. And now I have barely gotten two sentences out of Korey about his plans on if he's still gonna live here or not. I'm pretty sure he isn't going to, I already told the landlords that it'll just be me signing the lease and I already put all of his stuff minus his futon and TV in a giant heap in the living room in hopes that he will pick it up.

If he doesn't come pick up his stuff by August 1st, (start of the lease) what can I legally do with it?

I don't want to be mean, I've been MORE than generous with him, he hasn't stepped foot in this apartment since early June and avoids talking to me, he's lucky I'm such a nice guy and I hadn't already thrown his stuff out.

EDIT: He also hasn't paid me or Cody back for picking up his share of the rent in May.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can try to contact him to see if he replies, giving him a deadline to remove his stuff. You can also evict him. The latter is more expensive and more complicated, but it would give you a clear right to remove his stuff from your unit.

[ZMaine]

I've tried countless times trying to contact him, but he completely ignores me or gives me very vague sentences.

I texted him earlier today telling him to pick up his stuff, and he didn't reply. I don't want to be mean or anything, he was my best friend when we were kids, but blatantly ignoring me just isn't cool.

If I were to give him a deadline and he didn't come pick up his stuff, what can I do with it? I would like to keep some of the stuff he has, and most of it I would rather just pitch, but I don't know if that's legal or not.