I have a tenant in Connecticut on a month-to-month lease who notified me a week ago (around mid-March) that she is moving out. She hasn't paid rent for March and the month-to-month lease requires a 30 day notification policy prior to termination so technically, she owes rent for April as well. I was going to use her security deposit to cover March's rent until I saw her unit. Her dogs destroyed the porch. The dogs urinated all over the floor and I will have to tear up and replace the floors, sheetrock, etc.
What are my options here? Is it worth small claims court? I do not know where she moved to so I have no way of contacting her other than via phone.
Tampa, FL · Member since 2021 · 108 posts · 68 votes
5y
First, I am sorry this happened to you.
Did you take any sort of pet deposit in addition to security deposit? When was the last time you viewed the property? It sounds unlikely all this happened overnight. You could do small claims, but you don't even know her whereabouts. To be honest sounds like your **** out of luck and just have to use this as a learning experience, but now could be the perfect time to upgrade the unit and raise rent for higher quality tenants if able.
Sorry to hear she trashed the unit. How much do you know about her credit and work history? I believe it costs a couple hundred dollars to do small claims. If you win, the court orders a judgement and the person is supposed to pay, but the court doesn't enforce it. You can take the judgement and give it to a collections agency and they can put it on her credit. If she cares about her credit for ever tries to get a loan, that will be on her credit and she will need to pay to get it off. I have heard of this actually working years down the road. The bad tenant tried to get a loan and needed this off their record.
If the person doesn't have job and couldn't careless about their credit, it might be a waste of time.
On a good note, although it might not seem that way, she left and didn't hang out for 12 months and not pay rent. I know there are some landlords who are a full year behind getting rent and the tenants are destroying the place and not planning on leaving.
Sucks that we are in a place where that is the sunnyside.
Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
Technically you have options like small claim court, etc but in reality after you run the numbers for the cost, time, effort associated with executing those options you will see that it isn’t worth it and keeping their deposit is all that makes sense in this situation.
Best to move on and absorb the cost. Is it frustrating? Of course, it’s maddening.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
5y
File a claim, or get a collections agency involved. Whether you get anything or not, count yourself a winner. Imagine if she stopped paying rent and didn’t owe out for a few months how much worse he situation would be. Rent coming in solves all problems.
Rental Property Investor · Concord, NC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
Agree with @Michael Noto. I had a similar situation many years ago. A sage attorney told me its just not practical to go after people with nothing to lose. The quicker you make repairs and get it rented, the sooner you can move on. Consider it the cost of doing business and think about where you tenant selection and inspection processes can be improved.
@Aj Parikh How much will something like this cost you? Do you have their current information, does that matter? Or how do you get their new info, maybe use a reference/emergency contact? Then, if you win they are responsible for the court fees, but may take a while to get your money returned?
I'd always say, when giving your notice provide address where we should send you your deposit refund. So even if they owe, they give you an address. However if they owe rent and have excessive damage... Hmm. I would use an emergency contact or reference they provided. Does anyone here know if a service to use to find people's address?
Investor · Oakland, CA · Member since 2020 · 108 posts · 89 votes
5y
Go for an agency that specializes in tenant debt and has contingency based fees. FYI the rental industry is statistically one of the lowest recovery rates in the collection business. So good luck with that.
Property Manager · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2014 · 728 posts · 596 votes
5y
@Garrett Knecht
First, get estimates for all the work, or have the work completed. Next send tenant a complete list of damages which they are responsible, along with a reasonable time frame to pay. Once you are close to the end of thw time-frame, send another request for payment. If tenant does not pay up, then you need to decide if worth the time and money to sue. Follow the process and document everything. You can not decide you want or even need to sue without going through the proper steps. Seems to me, ypu are asking about suing before even getting a complete list of damages.
I had a situation where the tenant, much to my surprise, ultimately paid for all requested damages.
It sucks when they do that especially if they damage things. Small claims court is your best bet. Take lots of photos, but you are unlikely to end up getting the money.
As she was behind on rent as soon as she gave notice, if you hadn't been in the place for a while, a quick inspection is a good idea. Hindsight is wonderful and it may not have changed things. I had a similar thing, but posted the eviction notice (it is not banned where I am) and between when she stopped paying rent and communicating and moved out, we did an inspection, but the last few weeks she did a lot of damage mostly filthy (disgusting would be more accurate).
On the plus side, they are out and you can rent it to someone else-who knows maybe market rent has gone up.
Property Manager · Henderson, NV · Member since 2018 · 501 posts · 317 votes
5y
I would send a letter to the tenant reminding them that the security deposit cannot be applied to rent during the course of the lease (verify you have this in your lease). And then follow the process of required notices for non payment of rent as soon as possible. After the tenant moves out that will be the time to tackle the damages and deposit accounting. If you do not know where the tenant moved then double check your state laws on sending the tenant their deposit accounting statement.
I own property in Indiana and Chicago. If such a thing like this happened in Chicago, I'd let it go because it would be way too time consuming. If this happened in Indiana, I'd pursue a small claims suit because they are quicker and there's less hassle. It's all about the process in where you live, in my opinion.
Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
5y
@Garrett Knecht tell the tenant you need her address to return the remainder of her security deposit and let her know it is coming certified mail. Once you get the address, send her an itemized security deposit statement via certified mail. The statement will contain an itemized list of deductions, with either a refund or a bill. If she fails to pay the bill, either pass it to collections or take her to small claims court.
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2020 · 562 posts · 554 votes
5y
@Garrett Knecht look at the bright side. At least they moved out. There are a lot of investors out there with problem tenants that they can’t evict because of moratoriums in a lot of areas.
So, thoroughly document the damage, fix the house and document all costs. Then get it back on the market. You will have time to pursue a claim if you wish. My first priority would be getting it cash flowing again ASAP.
A non-paying tenant moved out on their own?! That's awesome! I just had 2 places completely trashed, and I mean completely, baseboard heaters were use as tramolines, huge mice infestation tenant never told us about, and i think there were 4 doors punched/destroyed, along with all new paint-- they lived there 1 year. ... people can be absolutely disgusting!
Yes damages suck, but be happy you cut your losses quickly! Start doing the repairs and move on ASAP.. IMO you won't get a penny from her, it's the cost of business... it's part of the business.. focus on what's ahead of you, not what's behind.
Paterson, NJ · Member since 2017 · 20 posts · 9 votes
5y
I would recommend hiring a property manager so you dont have to deal with headaches like that, for future.
if you go to court, it will just stress you out. You might be able to still get an eviction out of it, and if you do it will follow that tenant in background checks
Rental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
Do you have a written lease, tenant ledger, each tenant's DOB and SS number? If yes, get all the damages together, and send it to Hunter Warfield collections, whatever they collect they will take 40% as their fee and send you a check, while you get on renting to the next tenant.
Investor · UT · Member since 2020 · 35 posts · 16 votes
5y
@Garrett Knecht you have full rights to be made whole. Small claims is a process but not hard. Pay a lawyer to get docs done if needed. You can have a lawyer do a skip trace on that person. For a fee. But if you win that fee is refundable. In my experience for small claims:
1. Itemized everything separately.
2. Page # every thing.
3. Refer to the pages for why you are owed (think exibit #’s)
4. Be honest and prosper.
Good luck.
My experience:I have done small claims 3 times, district court 1 time. Non related to rental properties.