Flipper/Rehabber · Eagle Mountain, UT · Member since 2018 · 19 posts · 11 votes
We're in Utah. This is for a friend. They tried cash for keys, etc. Eviction notice was served, property to be vacated by Oct. 30. There is a strong suspicion of illegal activity. The police have been there several times for domestic violence complaints. The man has been arrested for DUI. But nothing has been tracked back to the actual apartment. They have definitely been breach of contract.
When is someone considered moved out? When is it legal to change the locks? If they leave and the landlord shows up and sees it vacant, can they assume they've moved out? Extremely frequently, in my experience, problem tenants leave all their junk behind (I've handled this from the flipping side, so never the eviction side). What can my friend do? They're trying to sell the house, it smells strongly of smoke (no smoking allowed). It's just a nightmare situation.
We're just trying to provide as much help as possible.
You posted this on November 8th but said the Tenants are supposed to be out by October 30th. That's already passed so the Landlord should know if the property is vacant or not. If not, check state law to see what the next step is. If the eviction date has passed and the Landlord finds the property appears to be vacant, they can change locks and take control of it. Many evicted renters will leave items behind. It's usually junk furniture and things of little value, so you can tell that they don't plan to come back for it. Haul it to the dump and move on.