Managing your rental
Abandoned units and belongings left behind: an Ontario landlord's rules
What an Ontario landlord can do with a tenant's things after a move-out, an eviction, an abandoned unit or a tenant's death, and the waiting periods.
By the Tenant.ca teamUpdated 3 min read
In this guide5 parts
The short answer
It depends on how the tenancy ended. After a tenant moves out on a notice or an agreement, you can deal with what they leave behind. After the sheriff enforces an eviction, you have to hold their things for 72 hours. If a tenant seems to have abandoned the unit, you need a Board order or a notice to the tenant and the Board, then 30 days. If a tenant dies alone in the unit, the tenancy ends 30 days later and you keep their things for the family until then.
After a move-out on a notice or an agreement
When the tenant leaves under a notice of termination (yours or theirs), an agreement to end the tenancy such as an N11, or a Board order, you may sell, keep or otherwise dispose of property left in the unit or the building, and you aren't liable for doing so (section 41 (1) and (4)).
You and the tenant can agree to different terms for their belongings (section 41 (5)), for example a date to collect them, and it is worth putting that in writing at move-out.
After the sheriff enforces an eviction
You can't sell, keep or dispose of the tenant's property until 72 hours have passed after the eviction order is enforced, and during those 72 hours you have to make it available to collect at a place close to the unit (section 41 (2) and (3)). If you don't, the former tenant can apply to the Board, which can order you to return the property or pay for it.
When a tenant seems to have abandoned the unit
First establish the tenancy is over in one of two ways: apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an order ending the tenancy because the unit was abandoned (section 79), or give the tenant and the Board notice that you intend to dispose of the property (section 42 (1)). If you aren't sure the tenant has left, the Board order is the safer route. Then:
- Unsafe or unhygienic items can go immediately
- Everything else waits 30 days after the order or the notice
- If the tenant tells you within those 30 days that they'll collect their things, they can, at a reasonable time and a place close to the unit
- Before releasing them, you can ask for any rent arrears and your reasonable costs of moving, storing or securing the property
- If you sell items and the tenant claims them within six months, you pay them what the sale brought in beyond those costs and arrears
When a tenant dies
If the tenant who died was the only tenant, the tenancy ends 30 days after the death (section 91). Until then you have to keep their property safe, apart from anything unsafe or unhygienic, and give the executor, administrator or, if there is none, a family member reasonable access to remove it. After the 30 days you may sell, keep or dispose of what remains (section 92), and if the estate or family claims property within six months of the death, section 92 sets out what you owe from any sale.
This page is general information, not legal advice. It reflects the Residential Tenancies Act on e-Laws as read on November 9, 2026. If a tenancy is already in dispute, speak with a lawyer or paralegal.