All tenants had to move. Utilities gone shut off. 2nd floor kitchen fire but not bad. All tenants (3 separate units) think they are going to move right into a new apartment from this house that they are using as storage currently. The market is too busy this simply won't happen.

Insurance people are still viewing and I'm meeting a 2nd adjuster there.

Red cross paid for hotel ends today (fire was Sunday).

The problem is getting them to move what stuff (into storage) they want and signing a surrender for what they dont.

I have rent to give back, offered help with man power, expressed the urgency of smoke, mold and theft. Even said the ins co is putting a dumpster here and is considering it abandoned.

Perhaps email each a surrender of possessions with a date and try to collect an electronic signature.

I'm seeing several of us experiencing similar situations and the same type questions.

Trying to be proactive on this, perhaps it's time to review our leases and possibly add clauses to address these possibilities. So the tenants know what to do and what you as the landlord will do and what you won't do it a place becomes condemned or the powers that be shut the place down.

For example:

Is there an emergency clean out crew? Maybe leverage that if possible and start tossin!

What worked for me was telling them that they would still be responsible for rent (reduced to a storage rate) and they wouldn't be getting back any of their rent, LMR or SD monies until they removed everything they wanted & signed a release. Since I own several trucks & trailers, I was able to offer to help transport their treasures to either a new place or to their storage space. None of my people or I did any packing, loading or unloading we just drove the trucks.

I made sure that what ever money they got back was adjusted for any rent or outstanding fees they owed. In your case if the fire was the result of the 2nd floor tenant's negligence, you should adjust their refund or bill for any of your non covered losses such as your deductible.

One of my fires was in a 4 unit building. A firefighter in 1st crew to arrive had an Aunt who lived on the 1st floor. Her unit was well away from where the fire started & most of the water was dumped. All of the stuff in her apartment got covered almost immediately with some of the fire department's salvage tarps. Other than a very minor amount of water on the floor her apartment & all of her things was virtually undamaged.

It took this tenant several weeks to finally realized that I was not going to refund any of her rent or SD until she removed all of her stuff & signed a release. Even though all of her furniture, TVs, clothing, etc was not damaged, all she ended up taking was a ratty old toothbrush & a large bottle of perfume. The value of what she took was less than $10.00 & the value of what she left was thousands of dollars.

Thanks everyone for the tips and stories!