Hi guys, looking for some advice here.
Our family owns a small commercial building, and rent half of it out. Long story short the current tenant stopped paying in December. We changed the locks after 15 days as allowed per Ontario law. He's made a bunch of promises since, but we need to move on.
We are now left with a bunch of tools, engines, welders, and car frames/bodies etc that are ground down to bare metal and FAR FAR from finished.
From what I understand, 5 days after changing the locks we are able to sell items. I'm just not sure the process to do this. The phone number we have for the tenant is dead. Do the items need to be appraised, or can someone just cut us a check and take away what they like?
Any help is appreciated.
Cheers,
I'm about as far as anyone can get from Ontario, but I'll relate what I ran into.
I bought a car from a landlord. Or thought I did. Tenant had moved out, left EVERYTHING! Including food ON THE PLATE, DINNER BEING CONSUMED! (You tell me what went down!) Clothes in the closets, mail on the desk. Just like they stepped outside. But it was 90 days since their last rent payment. Landlord checked with the DA, DA said she could sell personal property to recover lost rent and expenses incurred. I heard about a Camaro sitting in the back yard. I initiated contact, landlord sold me the car, with it's contents, I had to move it. SO I did. Here's where it gets interesting.
I found out who the car was registered to. IN so doing I found there was a lien against it. Contacted the lien holder, and they responded with "sure, we'll gladly sell you the abandoned car, for the amount owed. No. I'm not interested in paying retailprice for a car with the motor out, in the trunk, severely damaged(spun rod bearings) even though it was a desirable motor(LT1 350) Wasn't even all there. Some nice goodies had been accumulated, as parts to hop it up. But we are talking a ton of work needed. So. I informed the lien holder what the cars condition was, and told them I would retain it, at the going storage rate, till they picked it up. Next thing I hear is several weeks later, the gal that actually held the title contacted me, informed me that the landlord could NOT sell the car, as it was a titled property. So I checked with the DA myself. He said that is correct. If there was a titled piece of property, it would have to go through a sheriffs sale to sell it. So I contacted the landlord, informed her as to what the situation was. She decided to just leave it with me, refunded my money. If I could get some storage out of it for the trouble of moving it, fine. I informed the actual title holder, told her to come pick it up anytime she wanted it, but that storage was accumulating. This rocked on for a couple of years. Several times, the owner said she was gonna pick it up, each time I saud fine. Bring X amount of cash, and a title proving that she was the owner. Never showed.
I eventually parted the car out. Engine was not the original, so the engine number didn't match the title anyway. All the parts were just parts. No proof of anything and not part of the original titled vehicle. Ended up, a guy bought the body for a race car.
This was all in Texas, so I doubt Ontario has the exact same disposition requirements. But My point is, without titles, those cars are scrap iron. Or parts at best. IF you do decide to move against your renter, and I think I would, do not expect much renumeration from the cars. You could even be dealing with a chop shop. The cars could be hot. The VIN numbers being missing is a bad sign. Get the law involved early and follow their instructions. I got lucky. You might not.
The tools and equipment are probably safe. They are not titled. Unless somebody shows up with a lien, with some serial numbers on the equipment. Not sure how that would float out. I do know that in the states, there are many cases where law enforcement can and do confiscate cars and equipment IF it is used in the commission of a crime.(The chop shop?) They seem very much hesitant to confiscate things that there is a lien against. Let the buyer beware!