What can a landlord do with a tenant’s belongings left behind in Missouri?

In Missouri, a landlord may remove or dispose of property left behind once the premises are abandoned, which requires rent unpaid for thirty days, a notice of the landlord’s belief of abandonment posted on the premises and mailed, and no rent payment or written response from the tenant within ten days. The premises count as abandoned only if the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has vacated and does not intend to return, the rent has been due and unpaid for thirty days, and the landlord posts the notice on the premises and mails it to the tenant’s last known address by both first class mail and certified mail, return receipt requested. The statute prescribes the wording of the notice. Once those conditions are met, the landlord may remove or dispose of the property without liability to the tenant. The statute sets no storage period and says nothing about sale proceeds. This is Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.065.

WhatMissouri
Belongings left behindPost and mail notice, then wait 10 days
What the statute requires firstNotice, a waiting period or storage before disposal

What the statute says

“The landlord may declare this property abandoned and remove your possessions from this unit and dispose of them unless you write to the landlord stating that you have not abandoned this unit within ten days …”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.065

Read the statute in the Missouri Revised Statutes (Missouri Revisor of Statutes): revisor.mo.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora keeps a lease’s end date and every notice sent through it, with the date it went out, in the lease record — so the dates a rule like this one counts from are on file rather than remembered.

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