I am a fairly new park owner and I was wondering if anyone could advise me on the process one would take if they suspect a tenant owned home has been abandoned. I have not received any rent from this tenant in over a month and the manager and their neighbors have not seen them around in quite some time.
Thanks for the help,
Nicole
your state has laws for this - look 'em up
I understand each state is different. I was wondering if anyone would like to share their experience in this situation. How much time did it take you? What type of cost was involved in your state?
Regards,
Nicole
Nevans,
If you didn’t already do so in a post, please post the state you are in and perhaps someone here can provide specific detail on the process and/or provide you links to the legal info for your state.
Try pulling up your landlord tenant act online and see where they may lead you. There’s a good chance that it may not answer your question directly because of the uniqueness of the mobile home on a rented lot but it very well may at least get you some info on how to begin your search. It will also provide you with vital information that you will need to know (very) well as a landlord so that you can best control your property and tenants.
Tony
Thank you for your help, Tony. My park is in Indiana.
Since it appears you are trying a Do-It-Yourself approach with no previous experience, my suggestion (and I freely admit I am risk adverse) is to 1. If you belong to a Real Investment Club in your area, they may have a list of preferred vendors, which include real estate attorneys, or 2. Look in your yellow pages under Attorneys and find those who advertise as LANDLORD real estate attorneys (as compared to those advertising as tenant attys.) Call until you find one who claims to have experience in mobile home evictions and abandoned property. A short consultation should allow you to then do the rest yourself.
The risk if you just rely on a layman’s interpretation of your state laws is that if the tenant shows up they could possibly sue for improper destruction/removal of their property. Don’t know about your state, but in mine the same law applies to abandoned property in an apartment, rented house, or rented mobile home. Here there is a minimum time I have to store the property, after the tenant has vacated, before I can dispose of it.
I agree that proper legal guidance, at least on the first one is a great idea.
However I would point out that abandoned property such as belongings left in a rental unit are not likely to be treated anywhere near the same as a mobile home abandoned on your property.
The abandoned mobile home is treated differently by different states and often involves issues such as much longer notification to evict, newspaper advertising for abandonment, court procedures to get possession then DMV to obtain abandonment title.
Tony