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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    10

    Default Tenant Left Furniture Behind After Moving Out

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: NY

    I rented out my apartment to a young couple, they both have no credit, the girl's father has good credit, so I agreed the deal, all three of them are on the lease. Recently the couple broke up, the girl continue to rent my for 2 months and then she decided to leave, they don't own me any money. However, the girl left behind some furniture (worth of about $5000), which was my mistake, she asked if I want to keep them because she has no place for them, and she was going to throw them away anyway, and I said leave them here if she was going to throw them away.

    here are the 2 questions:

    1. Now the guy called me, saying he paid for the furniture, I told him its ok come pick it up, I don't want the furniture from the begining, I just feel bad about throwing away good stuffs. But he's in Florida and won't come back until next month. But I have to rent out the apartment to a new tenant, he is holding me up. How much time does he have to pick up his belonging? Can I keep or throw away the furniture after a month and restrict him to come into my apartment?

    2. The original lease still has 2 more months to go, but me, the girl, and the girl's father all agreed on cutting it short and use the security deposit as the last two month rent. Now all of sudden, the guy says he want to continue renting my apartment, but he can not come up with the 2 months security deposit, so I said no to him. He come back and say his name is on the lease, he still has two month of the lease, he said the security deposit was his money, the girl exhausted it, he would continue to pay rent and eventually put the security deposit back in. As a owner, I don't want to take that risk, he is a guy with no credit to begin with and still have no credit after 2 years, I rent it out because of the girl's father, not because of him. Question is: is it like what he said that he still hold the lease? or that lease is done/gone/finished/broke by 3 (landlord,the girl,the father) out of 4 (the guy) people on it?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Tenant Leave Furniture Behind

    I think that you can make the argument that he abandoned the lease when he left months ago. I would not let him back in the apartment and in fact would change the locks on the off chance that he still has a key.

    The furniture is an iffier proposition. If its really good furniture like that I would try to find some place to store it until he can pick it up, assuming that he does so within 30 days.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Tenant Leave Furniture Behind

    Quote Quoting Lokie
    View Post
    Question is: is it like what he said that he still hold the lease? or that lease is done/gone/finished/broke by 3 (landlord,the girl,the father) out of 4 (the guy) people on it?
    You've made some potentially costly amateur mistakes.

    You have three people who signed your lease. As far as you should be concerned the deposit belongs to all three jointly, the furniture belongs to all three jointly, and all three have breached the lease by leaving the apartment before the expiration of the lease.

    What you should have done was say no to anyone being let out of the lease, no to leaving furniture behind, and served a pay or quit notice the first day rent was due and not paid and retained the deposit until such time as you installed a new tenant.

    Now that the boyfriend is hassling you, you need to start putting stuff in writing to all three of them, treating them as a single tenant.

    I strongly suggest you consult a lawyer who can help you get yourself out of this mess.

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