Evicting a tenant for non-payment of rent is sometimes to win only half the battle. The other half is to dispose of what they have left behind in the property, without attracting legal liability for wrongful disposal.
With Residential Leases, the landlord’s rights to dispose of goods or rubbish left behind after a residential tenant vacates are: the landlord must give a disposal notice, then wait 14 days before disposing of the goods, and account for the proceeds of sale. A landlord can dispose by sale, or by donation to a charity, or leaving it out on the street for a Council collection.
This does not apply to perishable items which can be disposed of straight away or to personal documents which must be kept for 90 days and then returned to the issuer.
With Commercial leases, the landlord’s rights to dispose of goods left behind by a tenant are governed by a covenant in the lease. If there is no covenant in the lease, or if the landlord desires greater certainty, they can obtain a court order for disposal under the Uncollected Goods Act 1995(NSW).
Obtaining a court order for disposal of tenant’s goods is a relatively simple and inexpensive procedure. It has the advantage that it is made with the authority of the Court, it is not simply the enforcement of a covenant in a lease. A court order will confer good legal title on a purchaser and will give directions for payment of the proceeds of sale.
Recently, we obtained a court order to dispose of 2,800 200 litre / 44 gallon drums full of Activated Carbon which had been left behind in a warehouse by a defaulting tenant
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