Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2012 · 27 posts · 1 vote
Hello everyone
I am not sure what the laws are so I wanted to post this. I have personal property left in a property just purchased at a PA sheriff sale. The owner passed away with no heirs. I am having the title company double check on proper serving but I am assuming I am ok in giving this away to VA, goodwill, etc. It includes couches, beds, a little clothing, but also a large file cabinet full of documents (that may need properly disposed of, I have not looked at them yet).
Can anyone explain the rules on personal property in PA? I did see on another post of people finding relatives of those involved and giving them the property, and that makes sense. I have also seen the bank putting items in storage but am not sure how long they do that and if that is required by law. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Real Estate Broker · Northwest Indiana, IN · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
12y
In general, you should store the items and make a public notice about the personal property requesting heirs contact you to recover the items remaining. The general window of time is 30 days. So you can type up a a little paragraph and post in the local papers. You may want to contact the courts or a local attorney to help to ensure the notice is properly formatted and put in the proper periodicals. Usually there are some parameters around the circulation size of the paper you post in, etc.
Once you post the notice and grant a 30 day window for any heir to contact you should be in the clear. If a heir does contact you, you will need to give them additional time to come see the items and pay for any costs you may have for storage. I believe upon contact, the clock resets to 10 days for the removal and repayment of costs for all items.
If nobody contacts you with in the 30 days the property is formally yours to do what you wish. If you wanted to go the extra mile, you could also look in the probate records and see if anything pops up under the old owner's name and then send a direct letter to any heir.
Failure to do any of this could result in an heir bringing a claim that you failed to give proper notice about the property and you will be liable, as you are liable for the personal property once you take possession of the property from Sheriff Sale. The rules about this in general follow the same Landlord / Tenant rules surrounding personal property,etc.
Lender · Greater LA/Orange County area, CA · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
12y
I agree with Dion in his general recommendation. I'd also suggest you contact the PA's office and inquire into any special rules related to personal property found in real estate that they have sold to you.
Lastly, I have a personal pet peeve about having someone else's crap holding my project hostage. Having been sued and writing $400,000 of my own real cash due to 3rd party contractors mishandling personal property, you can understand why I'm a little sensative on the topic.
So, I document the heck out of what I find by creating a written inventory, video of each room, and relocate everything of any value to off site self storage or a PODS.
I don't know what the daily cost is, but every day my project is delayed, it's costing money.
Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2012 · 27 posts · 1 vote
12y
Thanks Dion and Rick.
I appreciate you both taking the time to respond. The house went to foreclosure because no heirs could be found. The bank's lawyers performed proper notification, verified by my title company. So.... the chances of finding a heir from posting an advertisement should be pretty close to zero. Based on the cost of posting, I will properly advertise. Good practice for the next one. Please let me know if you disagree. Thanks for the input. Jim