Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

To start, the law applicable to situations like this is called the 'law of bailments' almost everywhere and sometimes in California too, but for some reason the framers of our Civil Code decided to use the term 'deposits' instead of 'bailments' so you may hear both terms.

The law is summarized in the Civil Code in sections 1813 through 1847 (and thereafter for certain specialized kinds of deposits. Deposits are classified as to whether voluntary or involuntary, gratuitous or for consideration, etc. In your case, the deposit is gratuitous because you didn't expect fees or other earnings, and as a result, your required standard of care for the left-behind items is slight (Civil Code 1846(a)).

You cannot make use of the things deposited with you (Civil Code section 1835), but you can terminate your role as a depositary (under Civil Code section 1847) by giving reasonable notice to the owner to remove the items, and failure of the owner to do so within a reasonable time. The law does not further define 'reasonable,' but in the case of household furnishings, appliances, etc., I'd say a month after delivery of written notice would be adequate.

After you comply with Civil Code section 1847 and the owner still doesn't come get his stuff, you still don't own it, but you can dispose of it in any commercially-reasonable manner, after which you hold the net cash proceeds for the (now former) owner of the stuff. Depending upon what's reasonable in the circumstances, some combination of garage sale, secondhand shops, Goodwill donations, newspaper ads, eBay sales, pawn shops, etc. may be worth trying.

You can reimburse yourself for the costs you incur in disposing of the items, but remember the items aren't yours, never become yours, and you can't keep the net sales money produced. After reimbursing yourself for storage fees (maybe) and your out-of-pocket costs, the net proceeds from disposing of the stuff belongs to the former owner. And keep good records.