What can a landlord do with a tenant’s belongings left behind in North Dakota?
In North Dakota, a landlord may keep and dispose of property worth not more than $2,500 left in a leased dwelling, without legal process, 28 or more days after receiving actual notice that the tenant has vacated or after it reasonably appears that the tenant has vacated. The landlord is entitled to the proceeds from the sale of the property and may recover from the tenant’s security deposit any storage and moving expenses incurred in disposing of the property that exceed the sale proceeds. If the landlord removes the abandoned property after a judgment of eviction has been obtained and the special execution has been served, the landlord has a lien on the property for the reasonable storage and moving expenses and may keep possession until those charges are paid. The lien does not have priority over a prior perfected security interest in the property. This is N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-30.1.
| What | North Dakota |
|---|---|
| Belongings left behind | Wait 28 days after move-out, then dispose |
| What the statute requires first | Notice, a waiting period or storage before disposal |
What the statute says
“… may be retained by the lessor and disposed of without legal process twenty-eight or more days after the lessor received actual notice that the lessee has vacated the premises …”
Quoted word for word from the section’s text.
Source
N.D. Cent. Code § 47-16-30.1
Read the statute in the North Dakota Century Code (North Dakota Legislative Branch): ndlegis.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.
Guides on this rule
- Tenant Abandoned Property Laws by State — What a landlord must do with belongings a tenant leaves behind, with the notice and storage rule in each of the 43 jurisdictions that set one.
Compare this rule in every state
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The same question in other states
- Alabama
- Alaska
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- Connecticut
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- District of Columbia
- Florida
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- Hawaii