We live in an apartment complex in an area FULL of them and every now and then we’ll notice someone got evicted. It’s usually when we come in and see all their stuff piled up on the curb outside the complex. And every now and then I’ll wonder–when I could really use that bookshelf–if it’s legal to take that stuff. Now I know it happens already, but I’m just curious about the legality of it. So, can I covet and take my neighbor’s stuff when he doesn’t pay the rent?
I’d say no. That stuff still has an owner and taking it would be theft.
I suppose if it stayed there for weeks it might count as abandoned. But I’m wouldn’t say anything definitive.
I would be guessing the answer is no. Even though it’s sitting out on the curb, it’s still not your property. It would technically be considered stealing. Think about it. Walmart and Kmart leave items out on the sidewalk all the time. Does that mean you can walk off with them? Or even a car parked in a parking lot. I mean, it’s sitting there…noone’s using it. Why not just steal it? Basically you’d be hard pressed to defend your actions if caught taking their stuff.
I would say it’s fair game. It’s out there either because the evicted tenant abandoned it or the building management chucked it out with the full expectation someone would come along and snag it.
If the landlord was supposed to exercise “reasonable care” with the former tenant’s stuff, (this varies state to state, and city to city and usually appears in the form of a requirement to store the stuff for a week or two in case the tenant comes back for it) well, it’s not your fault they were legally negligent. Enjoy the shelves. 
Of course, if the stuff is obviously waiting for someone to load it into a U-Haul, that’d be stealing.
Fascinating. I don’t think I could actually take anything, cause it’d suck if it was my stuff, but I have been tempted.
Assuming the stuff appears to be abandoned and it’s only a matter of time before someone else takes it, you could take what you want and leave a note with your phone number and an offer to give it back to the owner if he wants it.
Um, no.
The building management’s expectations have nothing to do with who owns the stuff. The only right the building owner or manager has is to remove the property from the apartment so that someone else can move in. This does not terminate the original owner’s ownership of the property; it simply terminates the person’s occupancy of said apartment.
It may not be “your fault they were legally negligent,” but it is your fault if you do something illegal.
As usual, it depends. The rental unit and personal property in it may have been “abandoned” according to the lease agreement and/or state law, in which case the personalty in it is fair game. Abandoned property belongs to the first taker. On the other hand, the tenant in it may merely have been evicted and his stuff carted outside pursuant to a writ of possession, in which case it still belong to the tenant…unless they leave it there so long as to “abandon” it, again a question of circumstance and state law.
This is not legal advice, I’m not your lawyer.
More: some states in some instances declare the rental unit itself abandoned but not the personal property inside, and require the owner to store the property for a certain amount of time and attempt to notify the owner of its whereabouts. If the owner does not claim it, it becomes the property of the landlord. Again, the answer varies according to circumstance and the law of your state.
If a landlord removes personal property before the person has had “reasonable time” (IIRC 30 days in CA) to pick up the items the landlord can be sued for anything missing or damaged. IF the landlord tosses everything out by the dumpster or out on the street/sidewalk and someone else picks it up, the landlord is responsible for it. You are not committing a crime by picking it up/taking it.
YMMV it mainly revolves around what is “reasonable”
It is not reasonable to believe that outdoor product displays at a retail establishment are “free for the taking” unless labeled as such. It is reasonable to assume that a pile of miscellaneous stuff on the side of the road or next to a dumpster has been discarded or abandoned.
As other have mentioned in California the landlord has to store the items for a certain amount of time. Assuming the landlord is following the law, (and in CA the penalties are so serve that you could almost be sure he/she is) and the landlord throws it to the curb, the landlord is throwing out stuff belonging to him so it’s fair game.
Talk about kicking somebody when they’re down…
And if the owner catches you nabbing his goods, can he legally beat the bloody snot out of you?
In Washington state, the answer is definitely “No”. The stuff is still the property of the owner.
Usually, the property owner piles stuff on the side of the road, then the renter has 24 hours to recover it. After that, it is hauled to the dump.
If the property in question has been stored for the required period of time it is no longer his property, its the landlords. If the landlord choses to toss it on the curb its first come first serve. In fact the police would probably find your claim that the passerby who was “stealing your stuff” needed his ass kicked so funny they would take you to the station to entertain the prisoners.