Tenant Abandoned Property Notice, Storage, and Disposal Requirements in Arkansas
At a glance
| Governing law, trigger, and routes | Two routes. Ordinary lease termination: all lessee property left in/about premises is immediately deemed abandoned after voluntary or involuntary termination (Ark. Code § 18-16-108). Prejudgment writ: 24 hours after writ service, if defendants remain or possession was not returned, sheriff removes belongings for storage pending final determination (§ 18-60-310(c)). |
|---|---|
| Initial handling, inventory, and storage | Ordinary § 18-16-108 states no inventory, photos, witness, packaging, safekeeping, location, or storage duty. Writ route requires removal to a public warehouse or another reasonably safe storage place under plaintiff's control until final determination; plaintiff supplies sheriff's labor/assistance (§ 18-60-310(c)(1)). |
| Notice recipients, method, and contents | Section 18-16-108 states no abandoned-property notice, recipient, mailing, posting, publication, form, item description, storage-location disclosure, claim instructions, charge statement, or disposition warning. Section 18-60-310(c) states no separate belongings notice; its 24-hour trigger follows service of the writ of possession. |
| Claim and retrieval deadlines | Ordinary route states no response, claim, pickup, holding, extension, sale, or surplus-claim period. Writ route uses 24 hours after writ service before removal and storage until final determination; if defendant wins, belongings must be restored immediately (§§ 18-16-108; 18-60-310(c)(1)-(2)). |
| Retrieval conditions and storage charges | Ordinary route states no claim method, proof, partial pickup, free window, or release condition, but all tenant/lessee property on premises is subject to a lessor lien for all agreed sums. Writ route assesses storage cost to plaintiff if defendant wins; if plaintiff wins a monetary judgment, storage cost is first sale-proceeds deduction (§§ 18-16-108; 18-60-310(c)(2)-(3)). |
| Low-value, perishable, and protected property | Neither section states a dollar threshold or separate rule for trash, perishables, hazardous items, animals, medicine, medical devices, documents, photographs, keepsakes, clothing, tools, bedding, or apparent third-party property. Vehicles, fixtures, self-storage property, active-tenancy property, and deceased-tenant estates remain outside this survey. |
| Sale or disposal method | Ordinary route allows the lessor to dispose of deemed-abandoned property as the lessor sees fit, with no required auction, bidding, publication, donation, valuation, or sale method. Writ route requires a court-ordered commercially reasonable sale only when final determination favors plaintiff and includes a monetary judgment (§§ 18-16-108; 18-60-310(c)(3)). |
| Proceeds, accounting, and unclaimed funds | Ordinary § 18-16-108 states no sale accounting, deduction order, surplus payment, holding period, or government remittance. Writ sale proceeds apply first to storage cost, second to plaintiff's monetary judgment, and third by remitting any excess to defendant; no later unclaimed-funds route is stated (§ 18-60-310(c)(3)). |
| Remedies, liability, and special limits | Ordinary route says disposition may occur without recourse by lessee and creates the lessor lien for agreed sums. Writ route requires immediate restoration and assesses storage cost against plaintiff if defendant wins; if plaintiff wins without a monetary judgment, § 18-60-310(c)(3)'s sale command does not apply. Neither section states statutory damages, fees, waiver rules, or local preemption. |
Requirements one by one
The ordinary route starts at lease termination
Arkansas Code § 18-16-108 says that, upon voluntary or involuntary termination of a lease, all lessee property left in or about the premises is considered abandoned. The lessor may dispose of it “as the lessor shall see fit without recourse by the lessee.” The same section subjects all tenant or lessee property placed on the premises to a lessor lien for all agreed sums.
The section states no belongings notice, inventory, storage, claim, waiting, sale, accounting, or remittance procedure. It does not itself establish that a lease has validly terminated or authorize bypassing the legal process for recovering possession.
A prejudgment writ uses safe storage instead
Arkansas Code § 18-60-310(c)(1) governs belongings removed while a writ of possession is executed before the court's final determination. After 24 hours from service of the writ, if the defendants remain in possession or possession has not been returned, the sheriff removes the possessions and belongings with labor and assistance supplied to the sheriff. They go to a public warehouse or another reasonably safe storage place under the plaintiff's control.
Under § 18-60-310(c)(2)-(3), storage continues until final determination. If the defendant wins, the belongings must be restored immediately and storage cost is assessed against the plaintiff. If the plaintiff wins and receives a monetary judgment, the court orders a commercially reasonable sale. Proceeds pay storage first, the monetary judgment second, and any excess goes to the defendant.
What trips people up
The writ route is not immediate disposal. It operates while the case still awaits final determination and expressly requires reasonably safe storage.
A plaintiff win alone does not trigger the sale sentence. Section 18-60-310(c)(3) also requires that the determination include a monetary judgment for the plaintiff.
Arkansas's 2025 reform did not become law. Senate Bill 501 would have repealed § 18-16-108 and created a ten-day recovery process after execution of a writ. It died in Senate committee when the 2025 regular session adjourned sine die. Senate Bill 644, a separate manufactured-home proposal, also died.
Common questions
Must the landlord send an abandoned-property notice?
Section 18-16-108 states no such notice for its ordinary post-termination route. Section 18-60-310(c) follows service of the writ of possession but states no separate belongings notice.
Is there a ten-day pickup period?
Not under current law. That period appeared in 2025 Senate Bill 501, which did not pass.
Does Arkansas require an auction?
The ordinary route states no auction requirement. The writ route instead calls for a court-ordered commercially reasonable sale when the plaintiff wins a monetary judgment.
Who receives surplus from a writ-route sale?
After storage cost and the plaintiff's monetary judgment, any excess is remitted to the defendant.
Statutes and sources
- Arkansas Code § 18-16-108. Immediate deemed abandonment, disposal authority, and lessor lien after lease termination. Official Act 577 of 1987 (accessed July 22, 2026).
- Arkansas Code § 18-60-310(c). Writ-route removal, safe storage, restoration, sale, and proceeds order. Official current-text confirmation in 2025 SB 644 and official Act 577 of 1987 (accessed July 22, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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