Evicting Tenant. If They Leave Their Car Behind But It’s Parked On The Street, Is That Considered Part Of Their Abandoned Property, Or Just Something For The City To Handle?

Location: Missouri. Tenant owes a lot of rent and isn’t paying, as well as potential damages due to smoking and keeping a filthy space. We’ve found evidence of smoke damage and vermin, but we won’t know the full extent, if any, until he’s out.

He has received his eviction notice, but has not responded to calls, emails and texts, or even in-person - he just walks past us and pretends not to see us (we run into each other occasionally). We’ve just been trying to figure out his plans for his belongings and move-out.

One of those things is his car. It apparently has some issue that keeps it from running properly, so it’s been sitting out in the street in front of our house for months. He has not made any effort to remove it or have it towed. It’s been pretty much abandoned even before he received the eviction notice. The tires are flat and I don’t even know if the battery will start.

Under the circumstances, if the car isn’t running and he has no intention of fixing or taking it, I’d just as soon call the city and have it towed as an abandoned vehicle. Any tickets accrued on it would not be particularly substantial (my city doesn’t charge much and the only tickets anyone gets regularly would be for street cleaning, which is $20). However, if the damages to the property are greater than expected (vermin, smoke, and hauling out of junk), would we be entitled to regard the car as a part of the tenant’s abandoned property (provided 30 days have elapsed since the day he left the premises) and sell it to cover the costs? Or, is the fact that it’s on the street make it solely the city’s concern? The car is worth no more than maybe a few hundred bucks to the low thousands. I know I’d have to get an abandoned vehicle/salvage/whatever title on it.

Basically, my question is, if a tenant abandons property but it’s not technically in the house but on the street in front of it, does that count as abandoned property that the landlord can dispose of to pay off the tenant’s debts (giving the remaining proceeds to the tenant), or does the fact that it’s on the street restrict it to the city’s, and not the landlord’s, concern to haul away as abandoned? What carries more weight, the fact that the car is the tenant’s abandoned property, or the fact that it’s on the street?