Most landlords and property managers will agree, they are often faced with items left behind by tenants that either abandon a property or leave at the end of the lease term. Often those items are inconsequential, such as magazines, random articles of clothes, dishes and cleaning products, tools and various other household items.

Yet sadly, they also abandon animals, including dogs and cats and sometimes pigs and monkeys. Clearly those present an immediate problem, since they must be dealt with quickly. Once the landlord provides notice to the tenant, the tenant has one day to return and retrieve the animals. If they fail to do that, the landlord may/must bring those animals to a shelter.

In many cases, the landlord has limited contact information for the tenant. Whatever the contact information, whether it being an email, phone call, text message or even a letter mailed, often the tenant does not provide an updated address. Thus, the landlord may send the notice to the last known address for the tenant which is often the property itself. If the tenant submitted a change of address at the Post Office, that letter could take two weeks to be forwarded and to reach the tenant. That said, if the landlord is unable to reach the tenant direct, they may proceed to remove the critters.

What if an animal is aggressive? Dogs that are skittish or snarl at people. What if the cats are elusive, run away and hide. After the tenant has failed to return to reclaim the animals (after the landlord sends notice), the landlord should call Animal Control and allow them to corral the animals and take them to a shelter.

In many situations, the tenant leaves other types of critters behind. Exotic animals such as snakes, large spiders, large birds and fish that all require a certain type of handling. In many cases, those critters could be dangerous if not handled properly.

Again, under the 1-day notice, if the tenant does not retrieve these critters, the landlord may determine their viability, and turn them over to Animal Control. In most cases, Animal Control will take any exotic animals and handle them based on the state or county rules.

The same holds for the non-exotic, non-dangerous animals, such as hamsters, goldfish, small birds, ferrets and any little critter. Rather than making a tough decision, Animal Control would often take them.

Over and above the typical refuse and worthless personal property tenants tend to leave behind, the critters create a different process. The care and feeding of these animals should not be up to the landlord or their manager. While we are unable to determine or require what Animal Control does with any critter, it is best to get them out of the property as soon as possible. Preparing a property for the next tenant or sale should be done without any critters of any form in the property.

Leaving anything behind, including the animals, debris or worthless items might cost the landlord fees or charges to handle, transport or even feed the animals. Those are costs the landlord would include in any accounting of how much money they may retain of the tenants’ deposits, or money the tenant may owe after that accounting. Once the landlord has determined all the costs of the tenants’ breach of lease, the landlord has 14 days to send the tenant an accounting of funds returned or owed. If, after the landlord retains their security deposit, the tenant still owes money to the landlord, the landlord may work out any agreement for the tenant to pay that amount. Or, last resort, sue the tenant in small claims court and hope for a judgement against the tenant.

In all cases, any questions after you enter a property to list, speak with your broker.