I bought a house at the foreclosure sale in Calif. and it’s full of personal property==ie old clothes, appliances, furniture, etc. and there are old cars in the yard. Will I have to file a lien, or can I just throw it all in the dumpster? It’s mostly old junk, but there may be something of value to the previous owner or tenant. The house is vacant. How to handle the old cars?
If it is worth more than $300 total you can’t dispose of it, you have to follow a state regulated process and attempt to sell it. The proceeds from that sale can be used to offset the costs of moving and storing it, with the remainder going to the owner, or back to the state if you can’t find the owner. Do a search for personal property on our site, I’ve written about this in more detail before.
You can call the sheriff and have the cars tagged as abandoned. I think after two weeks, they can then be towed to an impound lot.