Discussions

so a tenant gets their hydro cut off for non payment and then decides to abandon their apt with all their belongings in it and not pay their current rent to boot how does landlord rent this apt and get teir stuff out

The landlord needs to go and talk to the tenancy branch to find out what their rights are as a landlord.  
 
I do believe in cases like this the landlord can stick an eviction notice on the unit saying the tenants have until such and such date to contact the landlord, if no contact is made then they give up the unit.  
 
The landlord can then hire a company to come in an clean the place out. Anything salvageable should in theory be put into a storage unit and the tenants taken to small claims court to recoup unpaid rent and if they want their belongings back then they pay whatever the storage fees are.  
 
That’s 1 option.....  
 
Another option that I have seen some landlords do, hire a cleaning company to just take everything to the dump after changing the locks

I believe you have to hold on to their property for so long even if they abandoned it.

To the above poster, you are correct if things are actually salvageable and any decent landlord would do this. As I stated in my post as being option 1.  
 
Sadly there are slumlords out there who don’t believe in doing that. I know first hand of a slumlord who changed the locks on his rental unit after someone passed away and had the entire place cleaned out before the deceased’s family could get the belongings out. Want to know what he did? He had everything taken to the dump all within 3 days after the person passed. He was also advertising the unit for rent on this site 6 days after the deceased’s death. Again there are slumlords out there who don’t give a damn

But then the landlord pay for storage that he may not get back? Never mind having to pay off utilities and unclaimed rent. I dunno I think there should be a two week thing at most

~BooBoo~ said "The landlord needs to go and talk to the tenancy branch to find out what their rights are as a landlord.     I do believe in cases like this the landlord can stick an eviction notice on the unit saying the tenants have until such and such date to contact the landlord, if no contact is made then they give up the unit.     The landlord can then hire a company to come in an clean the place out. Anything salvageable should in theory be put into a storage unit and the tenants taken to small claims court to recoup unpaid rent and if they want their belongings back then they pay whatever the storage fees are.     That’s 1 option.....     Another option that I have seen some landlords do, hire a cleaning company to just take everything to the dump after changing the locks "

So I can copy/paste it when the next "Why is Rent so Expensive/Why won't anyone rent to me/Why is it so hard to find a place that will rent to people with bad credit" or any other threads asking why landlords are so picky when it comes to tenants.  
 
Like wow, is this a hypothetical landlord you're talking about or your case worker.

You have to serve an eviction notice and keep belongings for 6 months, or unfortunately, the tenants can sue. After 6 months, you can do as you please, including selling the items. But the tenants need to be informed: even if it’s just a paper on door for 7 days. All resources can be found on the government of mb website. I have it bookmarked for myself as I have two rental properties. I also give a copy of “tenant responsibilities” to the tenants after lease is signed.

while the comments on the tenancy branch advice is the correct action a landlord legally has to take, unfortunately in my experience even with several posted eviction notices, texts emails ect and all looks of abandonment and non payment of rent for months if the tenant comes back and goes to the RTB, no matter how much the landlord tried to follow the law and documented, the hearing WILL go enough in the tenants way that the landlord will be out substantial funds so unfortunately that is why many landlords give a few days notice and clean the suite of all belongings, they are better off without anything in the place in order to say they were sure it was abandoned and the stuff moved, now no storage fees, no legal fees to go to RTB ect. unfortunately many bad apples wreaked it for the few people that would have some reasonable excuse for why there stuff is there and no rent paid, but really either they are hiding from the landlord or they abandoned it, why RBT expects landlords to go out of their way for people like that is beyond me ...sorry end rant  
 
in the case of a deceased person tho, that is low imo

Sadly, the situation I described about a slumlord in my previous comment actually happened this past summer. I was good friends with the deceased and the family was absolutely livid that the landlord did what he did. So yes, slumlords do exist.  
 
As for the first half of my post, yes landlords really do need to speak to the tenancy branch to find out what the legal steps are, and if that means a landlord has to fork out more money then so be it. No one forced you to become a landlord, you still are supposed to follow rules too.

I am a landlord with several rental units.. I survive being a single working parent maintaining rental homes with little free time or extra funds. Thankfully my tenants so far have been awesome, but if one bailed on me without paying rent and left all their unwanted crap then sure as s$&t it would go to the dump.

Al, this seems to be the proper info you are looking for.  
 
https://www.gov.mb.ca/cca/rtb/resource_list/tenantsabandonedproperty.pdf

1984FadedStar said "You have to serve an eviction notice and keep belongings for 6 months, or unfortunately, the tenants can sue. After 6 months, you can do as you please, including selling the items. But the tenants need to be informed: even if it’s just a paper on door for 7 days. All resources can be found on the government of mb website. I have it bookmarked for myself as I have two rental properties. I also give a copy of “tenant responsibilities” to the tenants after lease is signed. "

too have rental properties and you need to store the personal effects for 60 days, not 6 months and they have to be "of value". Otherwise, they can be trashed ie: worthless, unsanitary or unsafe (as per the act).

~BooBoo~ said "Sadly, the situation I described about a slumlord in my previous comment actually happened this past summer. I was good friends with the deceased and the family was absolutely livid that the landlord did what he did. So yes, slumlords do exist.     As for the first half of my post, yes landlords really do need to speak to the tenancy branch to find out what the legal steps are, and if that means a landlord has to fork out more money then so be it. No one forced you to become a landlord, you still are supposed to follow rules too. "

What that landlord did was disgusting on a human level...forget the business of it.  
 
But to give you the other side of it...as a landlord I've been told many stories from Tennants even more heart wrenching than yours which I of course felt horrible about so I waived rent, then again, then again only to find out that it was all made up. I said you can't let one apple spoil the whole bunch so I kept giving tenants the benefit of the doubt...only to get burned again and again to the point that I just had to say "I can't do this anymore..rent is due when it's due"  
 
To be honest I have a much poorer view of people in general after being a landlord with multiple units for almost 15 years.

I have no idea how hard it must be to be a landlord. Just from reading the acts it sounds like tenants tend to be protect far more for crap they can pull than a landlord ever will be. Good luck out there. Sorry if my post came off the wrong way.