Collecting Past Due - After the House Sells?

[Vincent Plant]

Hi, 

I owned a rental property for about 3 years. I decided it had appreciated enough and sold it off to another investor who was happy to inherit my tenant.

My tenant was always a little rocky. She scraped together the rent most months and paid late (with a fee) but was always able to make it work. 

So, we closed the other day on the 5th. Of course, I tried but she didn't give me any rent before the closing, and I prorated the rent and sec. deposit from day 5-30. 

So the new buyer is paid up for the month of December, however now I have transferred the property and was not able to collect rent for the month. 

I instructed the tenant to pay the rent this month to me still and begin paying the new owner next month. 

Wellll she's ghosting me now. She probably knows she has the upper hand and I don't have any recourse since I no longer own the property. 

Is there anything I can do? 

[Patricia Steiner]

You're running a business and businesses collect their receivables.  Here's what I recommend:

1. Hire a rent recovery service who will not only start collection proceedings but will report her to the credit bureau.  This will ensure that "the tenant will have to deal with you before they can get another apartment, car loan or credit card. The next time a landlord or property manager runs a tenant background check be sure your delinquent rent debt appears!"  There are several good services out there and one to consider would be Rent Recovery Service which is recommended by the AAOA.  

2.  You can also directly report the delinquency by contacting the credit bureau companies.  If you choose to go this route, send the tenant a Demand Letter (post it on her door and/or send by USPS with proof of delivery/certified mail) for the rent and late fee.  Only give 3 days for payment to be made; reference that should she not pay by that date that you will proceed with further collection activity to include reporting the delinquency to the credit bureaus.

And, I'm sure you had to do this to close the sale - and that was the right move in that case - but just know that 'no good deed goes unpunished."  Go get your money!

Most of these services charge a flat fee so it's inexpensive and effective.