Here is Ohio in Maple Hts., Bedford and a few other cities there are some crazy eviction laws. If the tenant is still in the house when the sheriff comes to "force" them out you have to have a certified moving company, registered in that city, pack up and move all the tenants property. You move this into storage that the tenant should pay for. They never do so you ay for the storage. Then at the end of 30 days if the tenant has not removed their stuff from storage you have to continue to pay for the storage and follow the legal process to get rid of their stuff in storage.

Obviously this is CRAZY. I had to do it once. It cost me over $5,000 and a ton of headaches. The tenant was there freaking out and I raised my voice and said she was stealing from me. The bailiff told me shut up and calm down or he would leave at let her stay. We had also just found the hot water tank POURING out water - which she never told me about. Between the water bill, eviction, moving and unpaid rent I lost almost $10,000. This is triple the most I have have ever lost.

Are there other places with laws for landlords to pay moving expenses - landlords are not allowed pack or move a single thing. Literally - the sheriff makes sure the moving company does everything. It has been like this for at least 20 years. I cannot believe the cities have not been sued.

I can't tell you how to fix the crazy in your area. Sounds like it's baked into the pudding.

I can tell you what I'd do were I in your shoes: I would sell and invest elsewhere where the laws make more sense and do not allow tenants to steal from me and damage my property. In my town, the day we go to court I get the judgment for possession. Set out to the curb date is scheduled with the sheriff's deputy, usually within 3-5 days. If the tenant is not gone, my crew (handyman and helper) can immediately start moving stuff out to the curb. Literally, the curb/front yard. The tenant has 24 hours to remove what they want. After that, anything left goes into handyman's dump trailer and/or I can keep it, sell it, etc.

My absolute worst eviction cost me $4,500, mainly due to damages because tenant's dog peed all over the flooring and we had to tear out and remove down to subfloor in 2 rooms. That was $3000 of the total bill, but I got the money judgement for rent, damages, and court costs and was able to collect every penny owed.

I can't imagine investing in a market where one crappy tenant would cost me $10,000. To me (and I say this as kindly as possible while still being clear), that sound like an objectively terrible strategy. Please reconsider investing elsewhere with a quality property manager who will cost you less and ease the stress on you. Or consider an alternative asset class. How do commercial evictions work in your area? In my town again, they are as simple as residential. You might find there are fewer protections with commercial tenants compared to residential since you're not "kicking someone out of their home", which is often the cry used to create these crazy levels of protection for residential tenants. Study up on commercial and see what you find.

Do commercial tenants require licensed moving companies to get rid of their stuff?

Are commercial tenants provided storage guarantees from the LL? If yes, how long do you have to store their stuff?

Bottom line: this can't be allowed to happen again. Find another way.

A "certified" moving company? Sounds to me like someone in the city has a cousin who they have managed to line the family pockets. A private eye could probably shed some light on this situation and give you some leverage to get the law changed. Nothing like presenting irrefutable facts at a city council meeting where the media was invited.

Welcome to my nightmare ... back in the hood we had no option but to pay 3 months storage during the eviction. AND it had to taken by a bonded, insured moving company. Haven't had to evict in a while so MAYBE things have changed.

Constables get pretty creative in the hood. Did an eviction New Years Eve. The moving company shows up short handed. Hired people walking the street with CASH. Then told the tenant "If I put this in storage, YOU COULD LOOSE IT ALL. Why don't you find me a friends garage .... you've got 2 hours."

Interesting it is in other areas. I make a LOT of money in this area. I own/owned 7 or 8 properties in these areas for 15 years on average. I only had to this once. The water running and late rent was about half the $5k I lost. I have never had to pay a moving company before. The profits I make in these areas is amazing. I just cannot believe the cities still pull this. Those same cities used to require POS inspections and if new buyer assumed violations they need 3x estimates for repairs in escrow at closing. It destroyed property values because many homeowners did not have the $5k - $20k in repairs the city required to sell their property. They got sued and POS inspections mostly went away.

Sell everything in those areas.

If you want to do any business there, just get something under contract and assign the contract. Do not take title.

You MAY have better luck recovering with the following added to your lease:

"In the event that any items of personal property of LESSEE remain on the premises, then LESSOR may cause all such items to be immediately hauled away and disposed of or stored at LESSEE’s expense, and LESSOR may deduct any such expenses from the security deposit as costs of cleaning of the premises upon termination of the tenancy necessary to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy."

An Associate in my attorney's office has expressed dubiousness about this clause, based on the fact that CA law provides for a procedure of recovering of such expenses from a public sale of the belongings, and does NOT provide for a procedure like mine (but she is only an Associate). I would claim in court that my procedure is not forbidden by law, that the lease and civil code bind the tenant to my recovery as a consequence of not returning the property in CLEAN CONDITION rather than as a consequence of having left behind belongings. I don't take tenants that I cannot recover from, in case I have to.

NOTE that the above clause is drafted according to CA law.

Of course you must follow the court orders, but in CA bonded movers are not required.

What my answer was has to do with recovering the expense of hauling away and/or storage. That CA law requires certain procedure for storage and use of a public sale of belongings to recover expenses usually does not recover enough money to pay these expenses. But I suggest that use of the cleaning statute allows landlord to go to small claims court (up to $10,000) and try to recover expenses not reimbursed by the sale.

I am again feeling lucky about my county regarding evictions.

I file and the clock starts ticking. The tenant gets 30 days from the day I file. Usually a week goes by before I get the first hearing. The judge just asks if we tried to settle things. Then asks if the tenant agrees that the eviction is sound.

At the 30 day mark the Sherriff's department calls to see if I want an assist. A deputy shows up. At 10:00 in the morning I take possession. If they are in the deputy makes them leave. I have new locks waiting.

Anything left in the rental is forfeit. Last judge told deadbeats in a hearing before mine that if they leave a bag of gold on the kitchen counter they can't go back for it. I was amazed that he made this change, and the new judge follows it completely.

I have given extra time (an hour, not a day) for the tenants to get what they can. I allowed one to put items on the curb but made them swear in front of the deputy they would be back in an hour to get it all.