How to bill tenant for damage to property

Question

I have a tenant that is causing damage to the property beyond what is covered in the security deposit. How can I bill them for the damages?

Kristen R. · Answer

Thank you for the recommendations!

Kristen R. · Answer

My guess is damage is about $3,000

Evan Polaski · Answer

@Kristen Rolinski, depending on the level of damage you may not be able to evict.  While I have never had this specific scenario, typically as the lease is coming to an end, I schedule a walk through with the tenant and have both a checklist as well as the pictures of the condition prior to them leasing the space.

I will walk through every item that I expect them to repair or to be expected to be billed for and/or security deposit witheld.  You need this itemized list anyways to send back with their security deposit, or lack there of.

The list and any remaining security deposit, or a bill with payment instructions gets sent to them via certified mail, so you have a record of them signing for it.  Take a lot of pictures of the condition they left it in so you have those if you do need to take them to court.

As mentioned, typically when you get a tenant like this, you will have to fight to collect anything and may not be worth it.  But at the end of the day, you document and itemize the repairs needed with prices to fix, and you take them to small claims court (typically) and attempt to collect judgement against them.

Stephen J Davis · Answer

Document the damage and get that person out of your property. Evict. It is only going to get worse.

Mary M. · Answer

@Kristen Rolinski can you give us a bit more info the damage?

Caleb Heimsoth · Answer

@Kristen Rolinski. Get a judgement in court but you will likely never see that money