Garage abandoned with cars inside

In Edmonton, Alberta I have a garage rented out with a warehouseman's lease (basically a commercial lease not governed by RTA). We rented out the garage on a 6 month term for $225 per month and a $225 damage deposit. The tenant paid for the first month in cash and stored a 2000s Mustang (not sure if it works) and a Chevy with the dash pulled out. There are also wheels and rims for an Escalade.

The rent is now 7 days late and the tenant has most likely abandoned the vehicles. She has not responded to multiple phone calls, text messages, or Facebook messages. I went to provide her with final notice to remove her possessions yesterday and the home is for sale and property abandoned. So I am very likely dealing with abandoned goods.

Blank copy of Warehouseman's Lease used here.

Our agreement states she has 3 days to pick up the goods after final notice is provided for her to remove the items.

We have run the VIN numbers of the vehicles on the RCMP's website to check if stolen. At minimum the vehicles have not been reported stolen. I have heard it is very difficult to sell vehicles if you do not have a bill of sale - even to an auto wrecker.

My question to the community:

- what should I do about the vehicles in the garage?
- what should I do with the Escalade rims and tires in the garage?

Your expertise is greatly appreciated!

First thing's first, secure the unit. Change locks/ deadbolt the overhead door (the manual ones are like $12 and 5 min to install if you haven't already).

Serve final notice by whatever means you can so you can follow your contract and claim the goods.

Not positive on the saleability but I can tell you from experience with many old farm vehicles it sure wasn't difficult to insure them in SK. On one I even had to guess at the year.

Yes, garage is resecured. Locks changed.

Yes, served final notice.

Start advertising everything valuable on Kijiji. With the pick up date no earlier than you you're three days required. Take a good look for the keys for that mustang as a running car holds more value. If you can't find the key have a mechanic buddy jump the starter if possible. Probably has a dead battery so you'd want to find one of those too

Get whatever money you can from it and get it re-rented. Don't sit on $100 item for three months whatever doesn't sell quick give away.

Lots of charities pick up all the scrap vehicles and give you $100 charitable donation receipt. That's free removal

Don't you need a bill of sale to sell a car? Same as giving it to kidney foundation. They always check for a bill of sale as far as I know

W farm trucks, paperwork isn't exactly plentiful. All I did was take it in to SGI, get insurance. On our insurance there is a form we can use for bill of sale. I would think you may need proof of ownership, not necessarily a bill of sale

Thanks. To my knowledge, to register a vehicle in AB you need a Bill of Sale

The problem is how do I make claim to ownership. I don't think the lease is going to cut it.

You might need a court order to sell the cars. But after only 8 days that is likely insufficient.

Perhaps you can donate the car and get a tax credit at least.

You'll be surprised at the value on those wheels too... The 15" plain aluminum ones on my old '98 S-10 were $586 each at the dealer... And that was in 98!

Before you dump the two cars, I would be very tempted to run your plan through a lawyer for peace of mind

I am not sure but talking to a bailiff or auto auction company, might yield you some information on how to proceed as well.

Also no idea of any similarities between BC and AB, but form a friend who did this in BC several years ago, they were reuired to advertise in local papers for a period of time. e.g. attention former tenant you are notified that under the <whatever it is called in BC > act the goods stored at blah blah will be sold after blah bal blah.

Would be better if you see an attorney first. He may be able to help untangle the legal difficulties.

Matt Crowley said:

Don't you need a bill of sale to sell a car? Same as giving it to kidney foundation. They always check for a bill of sale as far as I know

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Hi Matt,
Here are the regulations on abandoned cars in Alberta

Why would someone dump cars in the garage? If not stolen, there might be some other reasons. Better hand over to the concerned authorities. reselling may land you in trouble.

Tina Myrvang said:

Hi Matt,
Here are the regulations on abandoned cars in Alberta

Click to expand...

Thanks Tina, no those regulations only apply to cars abandoned on the side of a road. Not for cars abandoned within a garage. Totally different area of law. Governed by warehousemans lien act: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Acts/W02.pdf

Amanda123 said:

Why would someone dump cars in the garage? If not stolen, there might be some other reasons. Better hand over to the concerned authorities. reselling may land you in trouble.

Click to expand...

Reasons were detailed in this post. "Authorities" (I'm assuming you mean police?) are not interested in dealing with issues like this. It is a civil matter. Must be dealt with through courts. Dealing with authorities is not going to work.

Well, duh. The point of asking questions is to get real sourced answers, or explanations, not speculation.

Matt, you might drop a line to Neill Tanaguchi as he used to be in the car business. Send me an email and I'll pass it along.

Being abandoned for long period it woould be wise to report it. Exact locattion, registration number, make, color, and a brief description of the state of the vehicle need to be provided online. For the rims and tires I guess let it remain there as it is, as long as there are no takers, may be of some use for you some time later

Hey Matt, how did this turn out for you?

I’ve had experience with this in the past and it’s a major pain. Depending on where you live or where the vehicles are a bailiff may be able to get you a transfer of ownership, this is the easiest way to deal with this that I am aware of.

There are some bailiffs in Ontario that advertise this service. Regardless a bailiff is going to know the ins and outs of taking possession of goods as they deal with it on a regular basis. It’s been decades since I’ve had to deal with obtaining titles on repo’d vehicles so i don’t trust my memory of the process. Contact a local bailiff and pick their brain

Selling a vehicle you don’t have clear title too is not something I would suggest doing as the person with title can just show up anytime and take the vehicle and at min. This means a big headache just landed in your lap


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This one... basically we let the tenant overhold for free (about a month) and then gave them access to get rid of the vehicle and parted ways. Last thing you want to do is to start to tie up someone's vehicle or rack up legal charges.