Tenant Damage, Small Claims, Serving, & Collecting
Hi all! Looking for some help from experienced landlords. We had tenants move out at the end of June and we were stuck with a huge damage bill. The total amount of damage is close to $18k, which far exceeds their security deposit.
We sent an Invoice and broke down all the damages by line item and even gave them receipts for what we had and also estimates for the major items like damages to carpet (brand new and installed just prior to their tenancy) and major gouges and deep scratches in all major rooms (we have pictures of everything).
We initially were shocked and actually felt bad. We tried to charge them the lowest amount by not adding labor or materials for certain repairs for example to repair poor cover-up job for holes they made in walls, we just charged partial contractor labor and not materials. Same for replacement of broken or missing parts like broken banisters, broken microwave handle, broken window screens, dog faces left in yard,trash, clean out of cabinets and kitchen, etc. We either charged just for materials or labor but not both.).
We sent them the itemized invoice and demanded they pay another $1500 above their security deposit which was only equivalent to one month's rent (we should have charged 2x rent). Long story short, they came back and disputed and made their own calculations, ultimately showing we owe them some of the deposit back.
They asked for more evidence, receipts, pictures and more pictures, explanations on our cost calculations, etc. After about 1 month going back and forth, they asked for an extension to pay because they had questions. I extended it to end of Aug but of course when the deadline came, they stopped communicating and has since moved from their interim address onto their next rental, which happens to be on the Airforce Base close to us. We don't have their new address but do have the one address they just stayed at for one month while they were supposedly waiting for their new rental and we also have the forwarding address they first gave for their parents home (their parents also resided in our rental with them and are being named in our claim as well).
The total damages are high and it's a big house (almost 4k sqft & in excellent condition before the moved in).
So long story, we need help on what to do about serving them with claims papers if they now live on base and we don't have their new address? Do we serve all 4 adults at their parent's house, the address they provided? Do we try to go to their last known apartment or send certified mail there to see if it gets forwarded? Do we send certified mail to our rental to see if it would get forward since I'm thinking this would have their forwarding address.
It appears they are purposely trying to hide and run from their responsibilities and they probably know we can't just go walking on base to look fo them.
So I want to file a small claims even though the max is $10k, lower total damages but still a ton of money we are out even if we do get a judgement. I can't believe we were trying to be so nice and bend backwards for them and pretty much almost settled for "nothing". We asked for approx $1500 and they disputed so since we have to goto court, we decided to fully list all costs of damages. So frustrating and time consuming and painful to have to go through the damage. We also couldn't quickly turn the rental because we had to wait for repairs so we were also out a full month of rent since we had to cover that ourselves (and not included in the total $18k)
It it were less, I would write it off as part of doing business as a landlord but $18k. Any help or advice here?