Fire in the building

[Amby Bhagtani]

I have a tenant who is already late on his payments but he was smoking in the property and caused a fire. The total damage is close to 5k. The property manager informed me 3 days late and said that he doesn't have renters insurance and we will ask him to pay extra per month. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me since the tenant is already behind on his payments. What options do I have to recoup this money? 

[Adam Bartomeo]

You should have insurance to cover fires. You can also take them to small claims court but you cannot get water from a stone. The best option is to put them on a payment program.