Legal means to recover rent arrears

[Molly Lee]

Hi. I have a tenant who had rented a small 1 bedroom condo in Fairfax, N. Virginia for about 2.5 years. He is a federal government employee in Washington DC (working for HUD). Early August, he was 1 to 2 months behind in his rent before he stopped replying my emails and phone calls. Soon after that, I surprisingly noticed he had already moved out of the condo, leaving behind all his trash, and without giving us any notice nor returning the keys. We intend to pursue legal means to recover the rent arrears, but have no idea how to proceed. We appreciate any suggestion and help we can get.

[Upen Patel]

@Molly Lee 

Disclaimer: Anything I saw is not legal advice.

Unfortunately as landlords we have deal with such human trash. Keep the emotion out of this. Look at it as a business decision. Figure out how much you are owed and then how much the lawyer is going to cost. That will tell you if this is worth pursuing.

You have a clear case against the tenant, so if you are savvy, then you can file the forms with the court and have the paper served by a police office to the work location (since they have not left you a forwarding address). If the individual is there, then they are going to be embarrassed to be served court papers at work. Even if they are not, you meet your legal obligation, and the court might decide in your favor. Then you can go through a rent recovery service (e.g. http://www.rentrecoveryservice.com/) and send them 3 notices to pay up the court judgement. Which I am sure they will not. At which point you can have it reported to the credit bureaus.

Long process to not get any money, but at least you will have the satisfaction of screwing their credit. :-)

I am local to you. Feel free to PM me and I will be happy to talk.

Upen Patel, Mortgage Banker

Federal NMLS# 1374243