Bellevue, WA · Member since 2016 · 8 posts · 1 vote
Hi all,
I have an ex-tenant which I evicted due to their hostile behavior which threaten other tenants. They signed a stipulation to leave on certain date or they pay the court fee but they never returned the key nor left on that certain date. Also, they have damaged the place severely that I had to repair the apartment. Should I go after them with a collection agency to collect the money for the damage, court fee, and the lost month of rent? Is that possible? If so, please introduce to a good collect agency.
Recently, this tenant contacted me to have her eviction record expunged since she was not able to rent a place due to her background check.
You could sue for damages. Worth noting that it is a costly process and winning a judgement does not necessarily guarantee that you will ever see a dime.
What kind of asset class you are renting to would be the biggest factor I looked at when deciding whether or not to pursue a lawsuit. We have many tenants in the $500-$700 rental range. Typically they do not own anything of value, make a moderate to low income and change jobs on a semi frequent basis. In this situation going after them for the money is far more trouble than it is worth. Collecting that debt is a low probability and lawyer fees are high.
If your tenant is $1,000/mo or higher, has a great credit score and a solid career it may be worth the time. If they have been at the same job for many years a garnishment is possible. You are in an even better position if they own some real estate you could attach a lien to.
I think it is time to get an attorney familiar with WA state evictions. After consulting with attorney, you will know whether or not it is worth it to pursue the lost money.
I would not rent to someone in that situation again. Especially if you are in Bellevue, most likely there is a long wait list for your property if you clean it up and advertise it.
Good luck!
I would contact an attorney in your area that deals with real estate/landlord tenant law.
You should be able to recover for damages as long as you have some evidence of damages, the back rent should be not an issue because you had a court order, if not you have the lease agreement.
Keiko Harada
Does the person in question have a job? Is it a good job? Have they been employed there a long time?
You could contract a collection agency but unless the tenant is a good prospect for garnishment there probably isn't much of a point in doing so.
If the person does have a good job (one that they won't immediately walk from when garnished) then you can execute it yourself. Sue them, get a judgement then file the garnishment paperwork.
Good luck!
You could sue for damages. Worth noting that it is a costly process and winning a judgement does not necessarily guarantee that you will ever see a dime.
What kind of asset class you are renting to would be the biggest factor I looked at when deciding whether or not to pursue a lawsuit. We have many tenants in the $500-$700 rental range. Typically they do not own anything of value, make a moderate to low income and change jobs on a semi frequent basis. In this situation going after them for the money is far more trouble than it is worth. Collecting that debt is a low probability and lawyer fees are high.
If your tenant is $1,000/mo or higher, has a great credit score and a solid career it may be worth the time. If they have been at the same job for many years a garnishment is possible. You are in an even better position if they own some real estate you could attach a lien to.
@Scott Hildebrand Is a great local REI Lawyer in Redmond (Has briefcase and travels!) send him a PM. But to me the answer to your solution is right in front of you, if they want the eviction expunged seems to me like they should be paying what they owe you. The other less expensive option to collections could be talking to your Insurance Company and seeing if it covers eviction damage.
My policy is to always take tenants to small claims court for all they owe. It is one more mark on their record that some day they may come back to me to clear, much like an eviction, if they ever plan on moving on with their life.
If your tenant want's her record cleared make her pay and when she does simply say sorry you were evicted live with it. You owe her nothing, she owes you.
I have an ex-tenant which I evicted due to their hostile behavior which threaten other tenants. .... Should I go after them with a collection agency to collect the money for the damage, court fee, and the lost month of rent? Is that possible? If so, please introduce to a good collect agency.
Recently, this tenant contacted me to have her eviction record expunged since she was not able to rent a place due to her background check.
thanks,
That's a scream ... so the chickens come home to roost! TOUGH.
As to collections, I write off lost rents as Bad Debt, and fixup expenses are always deductible. You might 'consign the debt' to a collection agency, but don't hold your breath - - move on and try to improve your screening process.
There was a couple who gave a presentation at our local landlord club the other month, for the life of me I can't remember the name.
Essentially, the main speech was done by a lady, who as a landlord was owed tens of thousands and finally snapped when some deadbeat ex-tenant flipped her off in court.
She sells a $299 guide book on how to sue your tenant, and frankly, I'd have bought it - if we were owed large amounts of back rent (which we aren't). I don't buy into these courses, but, this one I probably would.
To say this woman was thorough would be an understatement, and I really felt that her enthusiasm to chase dead beat tenants far outweighed her enthusiasm to rent houses.
I think her advice was : get a judgement, get the deadbeat into court, get a court approved payment plan, and if they default get them thrown in jail for contempt of court.
There is an obligation on the part of a tenant not to create waste (damage). They are liable for any damages that remain when they leave. If its under $5K, go to small claims and get a judgment. Be sure to do this before you go to a collection agency because that will "perfect" your claim. If they want a good reference, you can do that in exchange for a total satisfaction for the damages caused.
Essentially, the main speech was done by a lady, who as a landlord was owed tens of thousands and finally snapped when some deadbeat ex-tenant flipped her off in court.
She sells a $299 guide book on how to sue your tenant,
I think her advice was : get a judgement, get the deadbeat into court, get a court approved payment plan, and if they default get them thrown in jail for contempt of court.
IMO, total waste of time, effort and the presentation was HER marketing for the costly book.
While you might feel good on a Small Claims judgment, you will have wasted more time and $$$ to only get a LOW probability collection. Learn to take your licks and not expect zero losses as that's just not the real world of buy & hold.
I think her advice was : get a judgement, get the deadbeat into court, get a court approved payment plan, and if they default get them thrown in jail for contempt of court.
I wish our small claims court system would throw deadbeats in jail. That would be more enjoyable for me than actually collecting the judgement.
Debtors prison would be the solution to landlords problems.
I think her advice was : get a judgement, get the deadbeat into court, get a court approved payment plan, and if they default get them thrown in jail for contempt of court.
I wish our small claims court system would throw deadbeats in jail. That would be more enjoyable for me than actually collecting the judgement.
Debtors prison would be the solution to landlords problems.
The point she was making, was that by breaking a court approved repayment plan was contempt of court, and contempt of court is not about failing to pay a debt, but going against the will of a court which is far more serious.
Now, whether she had done it, or was feeding us all a line of BS, I don't know. But I've met a few tenants that I've dreamed about having them locked up.
(I think the best karma I've seen is throwing out one deadbeat tenant, and then discovering that another tenant of ours was a repo(wo)man and was trying to reposess the ex-tenants car.)
The solution for landlords is that damage over a certain amount to a property was a criminal offense.
At the very lease any proven intentional damage should be a criminal offense but I also see non payment of rent as being criminal as well. To me it is theift.
@Keiko Harada What @James Wise said is spot on. Tenant class is going to play a large role in determining if you ever see one penny from a judgment which is why most landlords due to not sue for damages after an eviction.
This is yet another downside to buying places in so-so/bad areas which is why tenant screening is so crucial to success.
Thank you all. I see some passionate responses here as well. Let me add more information about this person. She and her boyfriend moved into my house. Initially, she lied about her situation and I did a simple background check on her and did not find anything specifically bad. She does not have a job but she was able to pay due to alimony from her divorced husband. Actually, I am new to the real estate market and this was one of my first tenants.
When I took her to court for eviction, I hired a lawyer who I also spoke of getting the money from her. He mentioned what you most were talking about. He was like move on. This is not worth it. I may consult him again about damage.. etc. They were able to pay rent on time.
I learned my lesson not try and help people or if I feel anything that is not right, pass the applicant. I guess I need to write this off as a bad debt. My spending due to damage and court fee was about 20k. The rent is $1700.
@Roger Vi - my property is in Magnolia. I will start renting back.
@Troy Fisher - sadly I asked the insurance company and they do not cover eviction damage. Let me ask again. Just in case.
@Greg S - I owe her nothing, however, she thinks she owes me something. They were in DV relationship that the cops came 7times to my apartment. One which she called about her bf strangling her and stealing her money. He was arrested at my property. This all lead to eviction. I avoid responding back to her since she was just bad news. I track them once in a while thru court cases since the guy has so much breadcrumbs.
@James DeRoest - thank you for the url!! I would love to throw this deadbeat in jail.
I'd take her to small claims court. It's cheap. Get a judgment. Then, you can place a lien on her bank account, her car, and at the very least, there will be a judgment on her credit report that you can renew ever 10 years, that shows she owes a landlord, if she decides not to pay it.
Her alimony can't be garnished. BUT, her bank account can and other property. She would have to prove that the funds in her bank account are all child support money. And, the bank will charge her around $150 for the lien on the account, even if there isn't $150 in her account, she'll owe that money to the bank.
I think a lien on a vehicle happens through the DMV. You'd have to look into that.
You could promise to expunge the eviction, but you couldn't make it go away anyway. What creates an eviction report, is a database of eviction filings. It's just the fact that you filed an unlawful detainer or whatever it's called in WA, that will show up forever. It's public information and it will never go away. So, promise her the moon and then say, woops, they just keep selling that database all over the place to tons of different people, dang it.
I'd get the judgment and try the lien on the bank account. She'll probably just close it, and/or file bankruptcy and include the judgment in it. But, that will cost her a couple thousand if she hires a bankruptcy attorney. Which will be a lovely consequence. And sometimes I think it's our job to be someone's consequence.
And revenge is sweet :-)
Next time, make sure they have income you can garnish, and get your criteria in order and don't veer away from it. Sorry this happened to you.
thank you for the amazing advice!! it is great. I will look into this. I agree that revenge is sweet. Since the other tenants in my building started telling me about this ex-tenant's weird behavior and saw the eviction, they are also very nice now. (Not that they were not... ) The scary part of it is that, she thinks she has not done anything wrong. It seems like and I found out after the fact that, they had been opening other tenant's parcel and claim they opened it by mistake. This happens so much and sometimes, the other tenants found out that they were missing their ipad and etc. They were missing parcels too. The boyfriend of her's might have sold it for their drugs and alcohol. I learned a good lesson. I will never be sorry for people when doing business. Also, she owns a BMW SUV!!!
I have an ex-tenant which I evicted due to their hostile behavior which threaten other tenants. They signed a stipulation to leave on certain date or they pay the court fee but they never returned the key nor left on that certain date. Also, they have damaged the place severely that I had to repair the apartment. Should I go after them with a collection agency to collect the money for the damage, court fee, and the lost month of rent? Is that possible? If so, please introduce to a good collect agency.
Recently, this tenant contacted me to have her eviction record expunged since she was not able to rent a place due to her background check.
thanks,
I compare this to squeezing water from stone. To much effort for so little return. Educate yourself by all means but pursing just not worth it.