Collection agency recommendations for unpaid rents

Real Estate Broker · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2019 · 17 posts · 14 votes

Does anyone have any collection agencies that have actually collected on past due rents or monies owed after tenancy? I've had to send a few tenants to collections over the years but have not found a great collection agency.

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Richard F.
Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5mo
The few agencies I have worked with took 50% of every dollar collected. The few times I was surprised by checks coming in years later were due to younger Tenants turning their life around and trying to start a family and buy their first home. Other than that, you do need to renew the Judgment every X years, I think 10 but it might only be 7, not sure. It's a small cost to renew it, and only makes sense if the debtor is young. If they were old and skipped out, near zero chance of seeing a dime. If they had a lot of Bad Habits...criminal activity, job hopping, excessive address changes, poor credit, junky car or no car, not very likely to turn around enough to collect on in less than 20 years. Screen and manage better, establish systems, stick to the systems. Do not make exceptions.
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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
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Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
5mo
In most cases, the people have no money to collect from. Also, if it is a collection agency off of a commission, if the amount owed is less than $10,000, they most likely won't take it on because the amount of work it would be to recover that and then only get a percent of it. It's a very low. You can hire a traditional attorney to file the paperwork that will not take a commission, but expect to spend $3,000 to $5,000. At the end of the day, you still may not collect anything.
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Jim Johnson
Real Estate Agent · Memphis · Member since 2026 · 616 posts · 356 votes
5mo
Honestly, I think a lot of landlords end up with the same frustration. The hard part usually isn’t getting a collection agency to take the account — it’s finding one that’s actually effective and realistic about collectability.

From what I’ve seen, success depends heavily on the quality of documentation, whether there’s already a judgment in place, how quickly the debt was pursued, and whether the former tenant actually has collectible income or assets. A lot of balances become difficult to recover once legal costs and collection splits start eating into the numbers.

Over time, I’ve noticed many owners shift their focus more toward preventing bad debt upfront through stronger screening, cleaner documentation during tenancy, and faster action once accounts become delinquent. At a certain point, collections becomes more of a portfolio risk-management process than a guaranteed recovery strategy.
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