We rented out an apartment until Rosh Chodesh Nissan. The tenants left a few days before Rosh Chodesh, leaving a lot of their possessions in the apartment. They sent a friend to take some things out, but they are insisting that they don’t have anyone here to remove the rest, and that it will just have to stay until Iyar. We need to empty the apartment to clean it and for the usage of the next tenants, but don’t have anywhere to store their property. We can’t get there to remove it ourselves either, even if we had somewhere to put it – we’d have to pay someone else to do this. What should we do?
Answer:
In principle, you don’t have to keep somebody’s property for him against your will, and after warning him, it will be permitted for you to place the things outside the entrance to the building. It is not your responsibility.
However, I am sure that some better arrangement can be reached. You can perhaps ask the former tenants to pay for somebody to store the things: After they agree, you can arrange for the storage and send the tenant’s the bill. This arrangement will be preferable to them than having their things taken outside.
Best wishes.
