BiggerPockets

Where's the property? Speak with the court clerk at small claims court in the county where the property is located.

I believe you'll need to file suit in the county where the property is located. Have you spoken to a lawyer? There's a big enough sum involved you should involve a lawyer. Does the tenant have any assets to make this worthwhile? Suing tenants is more a matter of getting a judgment against them than actually collecting anything.

Start with a lawyer where the property is located. He or she can at least advise you on the proper procedure and the time limits. Most should do a quick initial phone call for free or a small charge.

If you do go to court and win you will get a judgment saying she owes you the money. Nothing more. The court won't force her to make payments or anything like that. That will be up to you to track her down and get her to pay. You can take the judgment to a collection agency, and they will try to collect, for a cut. You can also put the judgment on her credit report. You hope will be that at some point she wants to buy a house or a car and the judgment interferes with that, and that when that happens she contacts you and pays you off.

Its been around a year and 4 months since I finally got her out of the house. I spent a year fighting it out in the courts to get the property out of foreclosure so my attention has just recently turned back to that direction.

Thanks Jim. I don't think here in Florida they will garnish her wages for repayment but it is my understanding that they will in Indiana. I was trying to determine if it was worth the effort to sue her for it. If the only thing I will get is a judgment, my feelings are, no it is not.

Personally, I don't think you'll ever collect. In addition, it will take significant time and effort to sue her; track her down; file garnishments; etc. More good money after bad if you ask me!

The big question that stands out to me is why/how you allowed the tenant to get $14K behind on rent and utilities?

Mike

The property is a rather nice one so the rent was closer to $1800. I made several newbie mistakes in that the property was meant to flip, I spent too much on the rehab, the market flopped and I could not make any money by selling so I rented it. Newbie mistake number two was trusting a mortgage broker that got me in a really bad loan and newbie mistake number four was I rented to a so called friend. Info for any other newbies who may not have $100K plus they want to flush down the toilet ;) Mike, I agree with you that I don't think I will ever collect and it would be a waste of my time and money to pursue it so I have not.

If you do nothing else, report what your previous tenant to all three major credit bureaus. My blog informs landlords about their options in collecting debt left by previous tenants.

Good luck!
Bill Gray
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14K? I believe you are WAY out of the Small Claims Court if you aggregate everything. Superior Court if you file for the whole enchilada.

If you break it down you could sue for portions that keep it in Small Claims Court. Or maybe not, as I am not a lawyer and can't give legal advice.

I think Florida Small Claims Court is limited to 5K.

In any event, I find it quite enjoyable to get the deadbeats. You can learn a lot by just going to court and testing the system.

It is a cheap education in law to file and lose than to hire a lawyer.

My advice is to file and see what happens. Then file again, and again, until you get what you want or you find you can't get what you want.

I wonder if you can "write off" a trip to your deadbeats general address to get papers served, or serve a writ of garnishment, or some other legal reason. Gets you to play private detective as an adventure, reduces your taxes, counts as a business expense, combines with vacation time, and can introduce you to the wonderfful tweakers of America!

Of course, you may value your time differently.

Karen,

It will not be a good use of your time, money and resources to go after the old renter. Remember, they are renters for a reason. One thing to keep in mind for next time is when someone does not pay you need to either turn off utilities or remove the AC unit, depending on time of year. They will leave soon after.