Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I have rented my house out for a number of years, differnt people have lived in the house. I am now going to live in the house my self and am clearing everything out. I know that there are differnt pieces of sporting equipment in the basement which are not mine. i have asked previous tenents if they are theirs but say no?
the equipment has been in the basement for years
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.
This follows the fiqh of lost and found. Please search the SunniPath QA (http://qa.sunnipath.com) for related answers.
In short, given that a reasonable amount of time that has passed, you can give away this stuff in charity on behalf of its owners if you don’t have a reasonable means of finding out whom it belonged to.
And Allah alone gives success.
Faraz Rabbani