H, does anyone know of resources that could help a landlord when the tenant skips town without paying months of rent? My friend owns her property out right and it seems all known resources are for owners with an active mortgage. Also many rental assistance programs seem to require the tenant to complete the forms and ,my friend can not contact the tenant. The landlord, my friend is elderly and on a fixed income struggling with the property tax payments and utility costs of the unit now . Any resources at all would be a highly appreciated.
Real Estate Broker · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
Collecting money from a deadbeat who skips town has a very low success rate. Not saying you/she shouldn't pursue it but keep your eye on the prize and get the home cash flowing again. That is where the majority of your energy should be directed.
You are never going to get a state program to fund tenant relief w/o a tenant so stop looking in that direction.
You can sue the tenant but serving them will be the difficult part. Once you get in front of a judge you will likely win a judgement and then you can try and collect. Best you hand it over to a collection agency and be happy if they ever send you anything.
Just understand the likely hood of collecting is generally low. Not saying you can't or shouldn't do it, but that may help you focus your energy short term on getting the home cash flowing again.
Real Estate Broker · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
Collecting money from a deadbeat who skips town has a very low success rate. Not saying you/she shouldn't pursue it but keep your eye on the prize and get the home cash flowing again. That is where the majority of your energy should be directed.
You are never going to get a state program to fund tenant relief w/o a tenant so stop looking in that direction.
You can sue the tenant but serving them will be the difficult part. Once you get in front of a judge you will likely win a judgement and then you can try and collect. Best you hand it over to a collection agency and be happy if they ever send you anything.
Just understand the likely hood of collecting is generally low. Not saying you can't or shouldn't do it, but that may help you focus your energy short term on getting the home cash flowing again.
Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
4y
Hi Anna,
Attempting to collect should be secondary to turning the unit and screening new renters to get the unit back into production.
If the old renters are collectible (???) that could come next.
If they moved to Texas--they may be non-collectible.
Texas is a hard to collect state, it's been that way in Texas since Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie (of the Bowie Knife Fame) lived at the San Antonio Alamo (all San Antonio Residents).
Collecting money from a deadbeat who skips town has a very low success rate. Not saying you/she shouldn't pursue it but keep your eye on the prize and get the home cash flowing again. That is where the majority of your energy should be directed.
You are never going to get a state program to fund tenant relief w/o a tenant so stop looking in that direction.
You can sue the tenant but serving them will be the difficult part. Once you get in front of a judge you will likely win a judgement and then you can try and collect. Best you hand it over to a collection agency and be happy if they ever send you anything.
Just understand the likely hood of collecting is generally low. Not saying you can't or shouldn't do it, but that may help you focus your energy short term on getting the home cash flowing again.
Thank you , this is what I thought. My friend is elderly and I doubt she has the energy to look for a new renter but I will pass on the advice.
Collecting money from a deadbeat who skips town has a very low success rate. Not saying you/she shouldn't pursue it but keep your eye on the prize and get the home cash flowing again. That is where the majority of your energy should be directed.
You are never going to get a state program to fund tenant relief w/o a tenant so stop looking in that direction.
You can sue the tenant but serving them will be the difficult part. Once you get in front of a judge you will likely win a judgement and then you can try and collect. Best you hand it over to a collection agency and be happy if they ever send you anything.
Just understand the likely hood of collecting is generally low. Not saying you can't or shouldn't do it, but that may help you focus your energy short term on getting the home cash flowing again.
Thanks don't believe courts are taking on evictions right now in MA so I will tell her about finding a collection agency.
@Anna Davis I let mine go for almost 2 months and my more experienced advisor kept telling me “serve the papers on day 6!” Fortunately once we did serve the papers my tenant got in line but now I know. Day 6. According to my lease.
I think the best advice I ever read was “How can a tenant pay 2 months of rent if they cannot pay 1 month of rent?” Once late start your process. Also evictions only were stopped for nonpayment issues but not other violations. I would say the tenants that don’t pay in my neck of the woods are the same ones who ignore other parts of the lease when I start really looking.
I’ve just been surprised I haven’t read more stories about landlords taking the law into their own hands like taking the front door off saying it’s being repaired or cutting the water line etc…. Yes illegal but some of the mom and pop landlords I have met take the position I’ll tear my own property up before I let you be there for free.