Tenant moving out

[Michael Sherwood]

Hi all been some time since I have posted here ( because everything has been going smoothly :) )
Anyways, I have a set of tenants that informed me last sunday that they are moving out this sunday....haha... no 31 day notice... I did not have a contract with them. (they are pretty young and I wanted to be able to kick them if they caused problems) They were there for a little over a year. also, I live in Buffalo in case anyone is out my way :) of course, they want to use their deposit as last months rent(which I told him that is not how it works) obviously he is going to ignore my demands for rent. My question is the following to you great people out there.

1. Should I start non payment proceedings on the first ? I won't have the tenants new address but I do know where he works.
2. The place is an absolutely mess he has guranteed me he will paint and fix it (haha I doubt it) So unforunately if I show it anyone will hate it.
3.If I do go to court I will ask for 1 month rent plus above and beyond for repairs(outside of the scope of the security) is there anyway to garnish wages or make this debt appear on his credit report?
4. Finally, I would like some advice on preventing this in the future( obviously better tenants would help) but up to this point they were fine.

any advice would be helpful guys!

Mike

[Scott W.]

did you already receive a call from the next landlord of their's for a reference? if not, tell them that if you receive a call, you will have to be truthful about how the place was treated & how they handed the deposit. also tell them you tell LL you will be following up with the LL after departure of tenants.

finally, tell them if they apply last month's as rent you will seek a judgement which can affect their future ability to rent & own.

just some thoughts/ideas.