Tenant skipped town without notice

[Joshua Ocean]

Hi my tenant skipped town in the last couple days without notice and hasnt paid rent. In georgia the landlord tenant laws seem to say i can go to court and charge them for the remainder of their lease....

also i am not in town so do i need to get a attorney? Or should i wait till i get back in a month?

also, obviously ill win but how do i get the money....garnish wages? I dont know wherr he works....

i can get the summons to court sent to his parents house which is the addrrss on his drivers license..

Somebody in georgia must have dealt with this before....please advise.

[Theresa Harris]

Quote from @Joshua Ocean:

Why is it so unfair for us landlords? This is complete BS. They should get a mark on their records and be forced to garnish wages

 Because most tenants are tenants because they have no money.  You can try to get it from them, but you are most likely going to get nothing even if you win in court.

I've had two tenants like this. Cost me a lot because they left a bunch of stuff in the house and one even stole stuff (literally the garden shed) and the place was a mess.  We got it cleaned up, rented it for more than before (the home is in an area with caps on rent increases) and a year later, the increased rent more than covered the expenses and lost rent from the turnover.  That was a few years ago, so I'm even further ahead.  At the time you're dealing with it, it sucks.