I bought a house from an investor who bought the house out of foreclosure in the state of Va. The former owner who was being foreclosed on alleged that the first investor lied to her about being given the chance for a lease option. I posted a question on this portion of the story a few weeks ago. It came to my knowledge that she is having a hard time getting a lawyer to take the case and nothing has come of her complaints of fraud. One week after she received the eviction notice, she "accidently" caught the house on fire. At least the fire marshal said it was an accident. My insurance company says that they will be going after the former owner for negligence. She admitted to starting the fire by falling asleep while smoking. The fire department pulled the electric meter when they came, making the house uninhabitable. This forced her to move out, but the 30 days I gave her on the eviction notice is now up and her stuff is still in the house. What should I do with her stuff? I've gotten three different answers from three knowledgeable people. One says I should still get an unlawful detainer, one says that the personal property is abandoned and belongs to me and the other person says that I should call the sheriff to come watch me put the stuff out on the curb after notifying the former owner. What should I do?

Thanks Jeff

I vote for the third option. Do you know where the former owner moved to? If so, you can send her a letter saying that on x date you will be putting the contents of the house out on the curb.

The worst thing in the world that can happen is they move off and leave their stuff. I spent two months getting rid of things here legally because I admitted they had moved out and left their stuff.

All you know is that the electric meter is pulled and there stuff is still there, you can assume perhaps they are still living there since their property is there.
If you had given them an official notice, go on to housing court and do a formal eviction though the court.

DO not must take their stuff and if they have moved officially you go though a entire new set of waiting periods to notify them to get their things, and even then the sheriff does not come out to watch

You bought the property from him, therefore the stuff belongs to him and not to her. Why did you give her a 30 day notice? He should have given her that. I would toss it.