soldier damages home and leaves the state

[Alyse Rzemek]

I had tenant who decided to join the military to get out of his lease. I received their orders 3 days before they went to boot camp.  He also left my house DAMGED (animal damage, holes in doors, walls, etc.) exceeding the deposit amount. At first his family pretended that they would pay for the damages and would work with me.  Fast forward to 6 months later.  I have tried to take this to court, but Sheriff's department could not serve him.  His family refused service and he has told the peace officer (over the phone) who tried to serve him and that he is out of state and can't do anything about it.  I have his details such as DOB, social and some information such as where he is located.

Is there anything I can do? 

I cannot get a hold of anyone at the base or information to track down his NCO. Is there a way to find out his NCO?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Eliott Elias]

Lesson learned, get the commanders contact information before you sign a lease.

[Alyse Rzemek]

Thanks, but he wasn't in the military when he started the lease.  First sentence in my post.  

[Henry Clark]

What service did they join?   What specifically did it say on the orders?  What town did this occur in?  

What is an overall estimate? 

Looks like this is your first post.   What type of real estate investing do you do?

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Alyse Rzemek:

Welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!

When a service member is given orders to move or deploy, the Landlord is required to let them out of the lease early. However, the military member is still required to give 30 days notice and pay for that 30 days of rent. If your Tenant left after just three days, they are still obligated to pay you for the 30 days, as well as the cleaning and repairs required.

As you now realize, you can't force them back to Colorado to a court hearing so that door is closed. Contact a collection agency and see if they can help you file a collection against him. If he's in the service, it shouldn't be difficult to track him down and garnish wages. 

Here's who I use and they are very good at collecting.

Donna Deloach
Capital Accounts, LLC
P: (800) 282-3214
F: (800) 296-3317
E: [email protected]

[Madison Blum]

How much are the repairs going to cost you? The unfortunate but honestly best way to handle it may be to simply pay for the repairs out of pocket and move on. At this point you've already spent 6+ months stressing about and dealing with this. In my opinion replacing a door and patching some drywall would not be worth the stress of tracking this person down and dealing with authorities for 6 months. Of course if the damage is extensive you'll have to decide for yourself if it is truly worth all the time and energy spent.

[Bruce Woodruff]

I hate letting bad people off the hook just because it's easier. They will do this again someday to another unsuspecting landlord. You owe it to the community to get a judgement and file it...you may get some $$ back, and it will certainly follow this guy around like a bad dream....

[Joel Case]

What branch of service? You need to find out who his Commanding Officer is once you determine his command. At that point you reach out to the CO, explain what happened, and I expect that you will get a resolution. 

[Alyse Rzemek]

Hello!  Thank you everyone very much for the responses and insight.  He is in the army and is stationed at Goodfellow AFB in San Antonio. The damage or what he owes after security deposit is $1705. I understand that this might be a lesson learned and cut my loses, but ironically he texted me last night demanding receipts for the damage to verify the charges  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am plan to try and call up to the base today and see about tracking down his CO and call the collections agency that was posted.

Thanks for all the insight.

[Henry Clark]

What town are you in?  Check the closest Army recruiting station and they can help you out.  Leave copies of costs and you contact info.  Tell them where he is stationed. 

[Henry Clark]

That’s Air Force.  
What is his name and I’ll see if my brother can get you a NCO and phone number to call

[Henry Clark]

I pm my brothers name

And phone number.  Just tell him the situation and the persons name and Base.  Tell him I asked to help. 

[Alyse Rzemek]

Thanks I will send it to you in a PM.  I may have some progress.  I received an email from the base about 30 minutes ago. Thx Henry

[Bud Gaffney]

@Alyse Rzemek hire a good collection agency. They’ll take a cut, but something is better than nothing! Good luck.