Removing a Tenant’s Personal Property

There are strict rules for when a landlord can enter your rental unit. See TRAC’s
webpage, Quiet Enjoyment, for more information. However, if you have abandoned
your unit, your landlord is allowed to enter and remove your belongings, a s long as
they follow the requirements listed below.

According to Part 5 of the Residential Tenancy Regulation, landlords have the

following responsibilities when removing a tenant’s abandoned personal property:

• exercise duty of care by carefully removing the personal property and

ensuring that nothing is damaged, lost, or stolen;
• store the personal property in a safe place for at least 60 days;
• keep a written list of the personal property;
• keep details of the removal and storage of the personal property for at least
two years; and
• upon request, advise the tenant or tenant’s representative that the personal
property has been stored, or that it has been disposed of.

Exceptions: There are three exceptions to the requirements listed above:

1. The personal property has a value of less than $500.

2. The cost of removing, storing and selling the property would be more than
the value of the personal property.
3. The landlord reasonably believes that storing the personal property would
be unsafe or unsanitary.

Claiming Your Removed Personal Property

If you want to claim the abandoned personal property that your landlord removed,
you may have to reimburse your landlord for the cost of removing and storing it, as
well as the cost of the notice of the disposition (see below). Your landlord can also
require that you pay any money that you legally owe them under the Residential
Tenancy Act or your tenancy agreement, such as unpaid rent or payments ordered by
the Residential Tenancy Branch. If you do not pay your landlord the money you owe,
they do not have to return your personal property.
Disposing of Personal Property
After 60 days of storing personal property, a landlord can provide a 30 days notice
of disposition to the tenant, or anyone who claims a security interest in the property,
such as a creditor to whom the tenant still owes money. For exampl e, a bank may
have a lien on the tenant’s car if they have not fully paid off their car loan. In
addition to notifying the tenant and interested parties, the landlord is required to
publish the notice of disposition in a newspaper published in the same are a as the
rental property.

The notice of disposition must contain:

• the tenant’s name;

• a description of the property;
• the address of the rental property;
• the landlord’s name and address; and
• a statement that the property will be disposed of unless, within 30 days, the
person notified takes possession, establishes a right to possession, or makes
an application to the court to establish a right to possession.
If the landlord complies with these requirements, and no one claims the property,
establishes a right to possession, or applies to the court to establish a right of
possession, the landlord may dispose of or sell the property. The landlord is allowed
to keep the proceeds of the sale up to an amount that covers the costs of removing,
storing, and selling the property, notifying all interested parties, and any money
owed to the landlord by the tenant. Any proceeds beyond this amount must be paid
to the administrator of the Unclaimed Property Act.

This is one of the most complicated areas of residential tenancy law. See Part 5 of
the Residential Tenancy Regulation for more information.