Items left behind and lock for bifold door

Are we required to return items left behind. First found a kids shirt but then found a child’s guitar which I am sure would not be cheap to send back… If they say they want it sent to them do I have the right to request postage??
Also, any ideas on how to lock a bifold closet door ??

clothing no, but guitar maybe. message them and ask for instructions what they want to do. make sure they pay for the shipping.
As for the bifold, Im not sure it can be locked.

She said just trash the shirt and find a kid to give the guitar too. Was not sure if we were expected to ship and pay for shipping ourselves…

Absolutely. And for something like that it probably needs special packaging. It might be cheaper for them to get another one depending on what kind of guitar.

Screw a simple hasp lock and padlock on it. I suggest a nice visible, eye level lock and a sign on the closet that says “private.” I have a bypass sliding closet door and more than one person has damaged the door trying to force it open. I gave up and quit locking it most the time.

I will have to google hasp lock! The door is metal so hopefully no issues drilling through it. I do have a sign up but I guess people don’t read or don’t care… these last people did not follow any directions and left the house a mess. I guess I have been lucky with previous guests. I even asked them to review the house manual once again before check out and they did not do anything

If you word it more “when cleaning we found…what would you like us to do with it.” More often than not, it’s the response you got. If it’s cheap to send back I might offer to do so. If it’s something heavy or unwieldy and they don’t offer to pay I tell them where they can pick it up.

No one is expecting anyone to do anything. It’s your business so you run it the way you want to. Some hosts send left items back to guests at their own expense. Others ask the guests to pay for the shipping. Others don’t do anything.

I’ve had many things left by guests and none of them have been worth much. So I haven’t felt obliged to let the guests know. If they missed the item, they’ll be in touch with me. I’d only go to any trouble if the item was valuable,

The first thing I do after guests check out is to look for items that may have been left behind.

Figuring that they probably have not gotten very far along on their journey, I then message the guest via the platform asking if they would like to return to get what they left and offer to leave it on the front porch for pick-up.

Several have returned to retrieve their belongings. Others have ignored the message and some have given me permission to donate the items. No one has asked me to send the items to them.

They were already long gone… she did not ask that they be sent back… First time dealing with that situation so was curious what should be done

Exactly. A hasp and padlock will work. You can get hasps in many sizes, so you should be able to find one that will fit.

One like this will look a little nicer than a padlock, but this type isn’t available in many sizes, so it will depend on your door and frame configuration.

Put the sign at eye-level, but mount the hasp at the same height as the handle that you pull to open the door. If you don’t mount it at the same height as the handle, then if someone pulls on the handle while the door is locked, the door will twist/bind/jam.

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