When preparing the returned flat you find a personal folder and several sealed envelopes. The next viewing is imminent. Quickly photographing everything and filing it as evidence in the property file would unnecessarily create another collection of other people’s content. More sensible is a limited procedure for found items that leads to a rightful return.
Separate the found items from the condition of the flat
As an editorial recommendation you first record the date, room and an external description: for example a closed folder and three envelopes. You do not need a list of employers, health details or individual invoice amounts for this. Which documents are actually present should not be determined by curious leafing through them.
Keep the items out of the ongoing course of the flat so that interested parties or appointed persons do not obtain incidental access. Photographing an empty drawer for the exposé and safekeeping found personal documents are two different tasks. The documents are not photographed as decoration or as a general part of the flat’s inventory.
Sealed letters: two national starting points
In Germany § 202 StGB covers, among other things, the unauthorised opening of another person’s sealed letter or document and certain forms of technical acquisition of content. In Austria § 118 StGB contains a specific regulation on opening sealed correspondence not intended for one’s own knowledge as well as other interventions mentioned there. [DE202, AT118]
The practical recommendation for a found-item case is therefore: leave sealed and clarify the route to the responsible person. This brief classification does not claim to be a complete criminal-law examination and does not decide any question of retention, service or deadlines.
Make contact using an external identifier
Use a contact already suitably known for the former tenant. A brief message about the find is sufficient at first. Do not proactively send photos of all pages to make the identification appear especially thorough. If the recipient is unclear, that point is clarified first; a previously reachable neighbour is not thereby automatically the correct recipient.
In the fictitious example the moved-out tenant replies that her brother will collect the folder. The landlord clarifies in advance the concretely confirmed handover and how the collecting person will be identified. She hands over the labelled package instead of showing the collector all contents for supposed verification.
Document the actual receipt
The receipt record describes the parcel or folder, the date and the agreed method. It is not a confirmation that every internal page was checked or complete. For a desired dispatch the parties agree the appropriate method and the necessary details. For mail arriving later the appropriate postal service or an expressly agreed authorised return route is clarified separately.
If there is no response, avoid inventing a rule such as after seven days everything may be thrown away. Obtain suitable information for the further procedure. Until then the matter remains recognisably unresolved.
Close the found-item procedure in a limited way
After the actually clarified handover update the brief found-item note. Personal contents still do not belong as a new collection of documents for the next letting. If contents were accidentally copied or opened, stop further distribution and clarify the specific handling professionally.
The conclusion consists of a traceable return route with limited documentation. It does not assess the former tenant’s living circumstances nor ownership of other left-behind items. This is how a find is handled in an orderly way, without turning a forgotten folder into a permanent part of the property file.