Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Michigan

Re: abandoned property

That is a question for the ages. Actually, there are several answers depending on when they left and under what circumstances.

The typical answer is "NO", but lots of landlords do throw out the items without tenant's raising an issue. If the tenant left at the end of the lease and left items after turning in the key my policy has been to take pictures of the items, send a letter to the last know address (which may be your unit) and let them know they have 30 days to claim. If the items are obviously trash (broken fishtank, half a couch) the pictures will help you prove so when you discard without the holding for a time you can show no loss of value.

Check in your lease language as it may indicate what is to occur with abandoned property.

If an eviction occurred, the items may be removed as part of the court order.

If the person just skipped out without paying I would follow the letter & 30 day policy above.

A rule I always operate by is to take the pictures & document since that can keep a later claim from indicating that the items were more valuable than actually they were.