How to send tenant to debt collector

Question

I have a tenant who owes me 7+ months of rent, I filed the eviction when they were two months behind, but the court gave me a court date of 5 months later. The tenants left the day before the court date, so the eviction was denied. They owe me 20K in rent, damages, and late fees.

I worked out a plan with them over email to waive all the late fees if they came up with a payment plan and stuck to it. We agreed on a plan, then they made their first payment and disappeared afterward. What are my choices here? I tried to send them to the collection, but I cannot even find a collector working on this. The collectors I found said they don't deal with person-to-person collection, and I don't have a registered company.

And I am not sure where they are; they said they moved out of state, and the forward address they left is an out-of-state address.

Pls suggest any collection services; I am ok with paying a big portion of the recovered rent to the collector.

Becky Innocent · Answer

I am dealing with the same issue. In the middle of researching companies that will accept accounts from individuals.  Here are some companies that I have found so far:

rentrecovery.com

rentrecoveryservice.com

olddebts.com

https://www.fastevictionservice.com/collections
(40%; requires a judgment and will get judgment for you for free)

https://residentinterface.com/collections
(not sure if they still accept accounts from homeowners but used to)

https://cedarfinancial.com

Please share your experience in the future.

Carol Hu · Answer

Thank you Charles. Everything you said makes sense. However, I still want to send them to collection agency, even if I cannot get any money back. I just don't want people to do whatever they want without facing the consequences.

Could you suggest a collection agency that I can use? So far, I haven't found any agency that wants to take this case yet.

Charles Carillo · Answer

@Carol Hu

Every time we have sent an ex-tenant to collections, it has been from a company. Maybe another BP person will chime in here with a collection agency that will take the debt but, I would really just move on. In nearly 20 years of being a landlord, I don't think I have ever collected a penny from debt we have sent to collectors (we did however get a lien on a house someone bought but, I am not holding my breath on when I will be paid). These tenants didn't pay 7 months of rent, and then you made another agreement with them that they broke. They are probably living somewhere under someone else's name, and are never going to pay you; even if you find them. Wage garnishment is a waste as well since they will just get another job.

Carol Hu · Answer

Thank you Becky, this is super helpful!!