California Former-Tenant Abandoned Personal Property Notice

California Notice of Right to Reclaim Abandoned Property

Use only after the tenancy has terminated and the premises have been vacated. This optional Chapter 5 procedure does not govern lost property, specified animals, utility property, or manufactured homes, mobilehomes, commercial coaches, and their covered contents. Send a separate notice to every other person reasonably believed to own the property.

Procedure and Deadline Gate

• Tenancy termination date: [__/__/____]
• Premises vacated date: [__/__/____]
• Notice method: ☐ Personal delivery ☐ First-class mail
• Statutory claim deadline: [__/__/____]
• Deadline is at least 15 days after personal delivery or 18 days after mailing: ☐ Confirmed
• Reasonable total resale value: $[__________]
• Disposition route: ☐ Public sale ($700 or more) ☐ Under-$700 retention, sale, or destruction

Notice

To: [FORMER TENANT NAME]

Address: [________________________________]

When you vacated the premises at [FULL ADDRESS, INCLUDING UNIT], the following personal property remained:

[____________________________________________________________]

You may claim this property at:

[CLAIM ADDRESS / CONTACT / AVAILABLE HOURS]

If you claim the property by [__/__/____], which is not less than two days after you vacated, you may minimize storage costs. Unless you pay the landlord's reasonable storage costs for all above-described property and take possession of the property you claim no later than [STATUTORY CLAIM DEADLINE], the property may be disposed of under California Civil Code § 1988.

Required Disposition Statement

Select the statement matching the documented valuation and delete the other before service.

☐ Public-sale route: “If you fail to reclaim the property, it will be sold at a public sale after notice of the sale has been given by publication. You have the right to bid on the property at this sale. After the property is sold and the cost of storage, advertising, and sale is deducted, the remaining money will be paid over to the county. You may claim the remaining money at any time within one year after the county receives the money.”

☐ Under-$700 route: “Because this property is believed to be worth less than $700, it may be kept, sold, or destroyed without further notice if you fail to reclaim it within the time indicated above.”

Storage and Release

• Storage location: [________________________________]
• Reasonable storage cost through notice date: $[__________]
• Property stored with reasonable care: ☐ Yes

Property reclaimed from the dwelling within two days after vacating must be released without a storage charge. Otherwise, timely release may be conditioned on reasonable storage costs. If the public-sale route applies, the former tenant may reclaim before sale by paying reasonable storage, advertising, and sale-preparation costs incurred before withdrawal from sale.

Delivery Record

• Personally delivered on: [__/__/____]
• Or mailed first-class, postage prepaid, on: [__/__/____]
• Mailed to last-known address and the vacated premises: ☐ Yes
• Also sent to another reasonably expected address: ☐ Yes ☐ Not applicable
• Also emailed to tenant-provided email: ☐ Yes ☐ Not applicable
• Separate notices sent to reasonably believed owners: ☐ Yes ☐ None identified

Landlord/agent name, telephone, and address: [________________________________]

Signature and date: [________________________________]

Sources and References

• Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1980-1991 — California Legislative Information — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&division=3.&title=5.&part=4.&chapter=5.