15 Day Notice to Recover or Forfeit Abandoned Personal Property for Residential from Landlord to Tenant
Disposition of abandoned property.
(a) Except as otherwise agreed, if, upon termination of a tenancy
including but not limited to a termination after expiration of a lease
or by surrender or abandonment of the premises, a tenant has left personal
property upon the premises, and the landlord reasonably believes that the
tenant has abandoned this personal property, the landlord may
(1) give notice to the tenant demanding that the property be removed
within the dates set out in the notice but not less than 15 days after
delivery or mailing of the notice, and that if the property is not removed
within the time specified, the property may be sold; if the property is
not removed within the time specified in the notice, the landlord may sell
the property at a public sale; the landlord may dispose of perishable commodities
in any manner the landlord considers fit;
(2) if the tenant has left personal property that is reasonably
determined by the landlord to be valueless or of such little value that
the cost of storing and conducting a public sale would probably exceed
the amount that would be realized from the sale, the landlord may notify
the tenant that the property be removed within the date specified in the
notice but not less than 15 days after delivery or mailing of the notice,
and that if the property is not removed within the time specified, the
landlord intends to destroy or otherwise dispose of the property; if the
property is not removed within the time specified in the notice, the landlord
may destroy or otherwise dispose of the property; in the notice, the landlord
shall indicate an election to sell certain items of the tenant's personal
property at public sale and to destroy or otherwise dispose of the remainder.
(b) After notice as provided in (a) of this section, the landlord
shall store all personal property of the tenant in a place of safekeeping
and shall exercise reasonable care of the property, but is not responsible
to the tenant for loss not caused by the landlord's deliberate or negligent
act. The landlord may elect to store the property on the premises previously
demised, in which event the storage cost may not exceed the fair rental
value of the premises. If the tenant's property is removed to a commercial
storage company, the storage cost shall include the actual charge for the
storage and removal from the premises to the place of storage.
(c) After landlord's notice under (a) of this section, or otherwise,
if the tenant makes timely response in writing of an intention to remove
the personal property from the premises and does not do so within the time
specified in the landlord's notice or within 15 days of the delivery or
mailing of the tenant's written response whichever is later, it shall be
conclusively presumed that the tenant has abandoned the property. If the
tenant removes the property after notice, the landlord is entitled to the
cost of storage for the period the property has remained in the landlord's
safekeeping.
(d) The landlord is not liable in damages in an action by a tenant
claiming loss by reason of the landlord's storage, destruction, or disposition
of property under this section. A landlord who deliberately or negligently
violates the provisions of this section is liable for actual damages and
penal damages of an amount not to exceed actual damages.
(e) A public sale authorized under this section shall be conducted
under AS 09.35.140 . The landlord may dispose of any property
upon which no bid is made at the public sale.
Title 34, Sec. 34.03.260