OT renter leaves mess no rent check

Renter left not paying last month rent,4 broken windows & trash everywhere.Anything I can do or just chalk it up to experience

Do you have his/her security deposit? Usually 1 month rent. If no then you are likely up the river without an oar. (or take then to small claims court)

Renters can be pigs. I know of guys that had/have rental homes. Carpet--Wrecked, Walls--filthy, Kitchen--A mess. The dividends you get for renting to people that cannot/will not maintain a home to a living standard.

Sounds "normal" to me ?

I just dealt with the same thing in Jan. To make it worse the renter was my 21 year old son. The house belongs to my mother. I got the pleasure of both paying for and doing the repairs. Was not very happy.

you have a moral obligation to bring them to court so they may learn a degree if honesty, Otherwise they will just wreck another place.

take them to small claims

then they have a reason to bust the windows out of the pickup too

I live in a different town I guess

After a certain renter moved out, I checked the mess that they left behind - and the damage. He wrote requesting his damage deposit back. I wrote him back that I had been in that city and checked the house. I told him that I was keeping the damage deposit as partial payment for the damage and then told him to send me an equal amount to the original deposit and we'd call the matter square, even though I was still coming out on the short end.

I knew that he wouldn't send any more money, but he also didn't ask again for the damage deposit.

We lived too far from that city to keep watch on the tenants, so we sold the house as soon as the damage was repaired.

small claims court about your only option. That might be a crap shoot in itself. Courts kinda like to see documentation on everything. Lease agreement, deposit, and so on. They kinda of frown on verbal agreements. Could end up being your word against his. And if he claims a storm broke them out, or they weren't broke when he left, even though thats not what happened and its not right, the court might not side with you. You might just threaten a lawsuite and see if he chokes up some cash. Don't know for sure what else to tell ya, other than keep the deposit if they paid one.

Did you require a security deposit up front?

At least they left. Usually the ones that do that stuff quit paying the rent and you spend money going through the legal process to evict them. About 4 months later (with no rent) you get back the trashed house.

I remember my dad's eviction process. After two months of no rent and ducking his phone calls we let ourselves into the home carried al ltheir stuff out to the roadside. My brother stayed in the house and locked up the doors. They packed their **** and left. They were the neighbor's son and his worthless girlfriend/baby mama.

I require last months rent up front. That way when they don't pay I am not up a creek. Always require security deposit and do random drive bys.

Now in terms of court, a judgment (if you can get one -it is often big bad landlord against poor little tenant) is only a piece of paper. Often if they live like that you are going to have a tough time collecting and it its rarely worth the cost to have somebody else try and collect it for you.

Good luck and don't forget that not all tenants are bad.

Small claims court is about the only way of collecting . I worked for a slum landlord for about 25 yrs doing all maintenance & managing the rentals . So he left me in charge of all transactions with renters (not fun at all) . But since I've had experience with that many times , you have to pay up front for the filing fee & then if you win , that bird will have to pay that back also . But if you loose , well you loose out more money . But you best have documentation of a lease agreement with a clause saying he's responsible for any & all damages left behind . Never rent to anyone without some legal documents signed by both parties .If that person has nothing to his name, well that's about what you come away with . Good luck & God bless , Ken

Renters are like lawyers 99% of them give the rest a bad name

If you can get a judgement against them, you can turn that over to a collection agency. You won't see much money, but the agency will hound them to the ends of the earth.

Whether or not you can get a judgement depends a lot on the laws of your local state. Study them, and seek legal advice if necessary.

I found out that in Michigan, if you go to court to evict, you can only get money damages if the tenant was personally served. If service is attached to the house because the process server can't find the tenant, you can't collect. And of course the process server has no motivation to find the defendant; that's just time out of his day.

We've found that a one month security deposit isn't enough for many tenants. They will stiff you on the last month's rent because they know it will take you a month to evict them. And of course they feel justified in doing so, because they see the security deposit as their "last month's rent". We now charge a month and a half for security deposit.

when i rented out apartments i owned, i learned quick to get first/last months rent and a ridiculously high cleaning deposit up front. when it came time to evict i would give them a notice to pay by Friday (example) or expect a 3 day eviction notice. i never had anyone show up to court for eviction or small claims and never saw any money either. but they always left in the three days, the place trashed of course.

Rented a house to a young couple that I knew, had to go collect the first months rent, late ever month after that. Then they moved out without notice, went there, they had painted over the paneling, trash everwhere. Carpets stained with baby doo doo, fixed it back up and sold it, will never rent to anybody.

At least they left, saving you the cost of evicting them. I do many evictions in my law practice- usually takes about 3 weeks, costs about $600 including everything.

If you know where they are (so you can have a lawsuit served on them), you can take them to small claims court. But I wouldn't bother unless one or both have jobs, so you can garnish their wages. Government benefits are all exempt from attachment. If they do happen to own any real estate, its worth getting a judgment as it becomes a lien on the property that someone will have to pay if they ever sell or refinance.

I always got a security deposit of one month's rent. I told them in advance I wanted the place as clean as is now. The best renters I had were the military sending soldiers to Aberdeen Proving
Ground for schooling. When I started getting that white trash we sold it. It lasted 12 years and all repairs and any items that were replaced were deductible on my taxes. Had to keep receipts and I had a good CPA doing my taxes. Hal

There are two sides to every story.
A lot of renters are bad. Some landlords are worse.
Renters all too often have the usual problems of bad credit, low paying jobs, an entitlement attitude, drug, drink and other bad habits and a general irresponsibility in life.
But a lot of landlords are people you wouldn't call your friend either.
Scalper rents, poor or non existant maintenance, an entitlement attitude, greedy, low class repairs and houses.
It is surprising how often a landlord will get asked to fix something and never get around to it and then bad mouth the tennant when he gets fed up with it and beats feet.
I have two rentals.
I remodeled both of them and made them nice so that I would live there. I take care of the places and make sure everything is not just working properly but nice. They are about 120 miles from where I live and I don't get up there in the winter months but if anything goes wrong I call a guy I trust to check it out and help them if he can. I also call them about every 6 weeks and ask them how it's going up there and do they need anything from me.
My rents are below market rate and they know it.
When one tennant got behind in his rent because of trouble with his child support and had his wages garnished I worked with him and let him pay me back as he could afford it. Then I forgave him half a month's rent because he is a good tennant and was struggling.
He has been there 5 years this summer. He likes to mow the lawn - does way more than he is required to do. So I slip him a $50 every summer - for gas and oil. He is always grateful that I would do that.
The other renter has been there 3 years this spring. He always pays on time.
They are good renters. They are not stellar citizens, but they work and keep a roof over their heads. I do not treat them like chattel.
I have had a couple of deadbeats too so it hasn't all been rosey but
I've learned if you are going to be a landlord you had better get used to giving more than you get. That's just how it is.
If you adopt a good attitude your tennants will respect you, your rentals will run better and your stress level will be lower.
When I compare the money I spent on those houses and figure in the taxes, insurance and maintenance I pay then add in the rents, I am making over 4% on my investment annually.
I can't do that in a savings account.

I rented out a farmstead about half the time over 15 years, then sold it. Half the renters were good, a couple of them stayed 3 years. Other half, everything from didn"t get moved in to slobs...last one said the damage deposit was the last months rent. (Illegal) Despite that, the place sold within 2 days, to a local who is the best neighbor to have. Worst prospect for renting was a fellow who told me he wanted to rent a house in the country, cuz you can"t be rough with a house in town! Yup, right to my face.

Although its not the area I practice in often, I get a lot of calls from clients asking your same question. Its ripe for Small Claims Court here in Indiana, but if they actually left and all you get stiffed with is a months rent CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY. If you got a damage deposit that helps. Often its very hard to get them evicted and even if you get a judgment for back rent plus damages you may well never collect a penny of that grrrrrrrrrrrrr

John T Country Lawyer

As a landlord, look at the bright side. You didn't have to spend money to take them to court to get an eviction, which could cost you another, month's rent, 30 day notice, plus time to get them to court, another month to get them to court and the judge gives them another free month's rent to move out. So you could have lost 3 more month's rent.

The last time I was before a Judge getting an eviction and damages, the Judge gave me what I was asking, smiled and said GOOD LUCK COLLECTING!
That was the last time I spent $100 in court costs taking a tenant to small claims. If I can get a dead beats out with scare tactics, I count my blessings.

If their rent is 5 days late I scare them with a 30 day notice to pay up, plus late fees, or pack up because on day 31 I will file for an eviction.

You have to play hard ball or complain on YT

I'd say you got off cheap. If I was still a landlord I'd require first and last month's rent plus a security deposit of at least 1 1/2 month's rent. And I'd never again rent to someone in sales (long story).

I had a renter trash a house and disappear in the middle of the night two days before an eviction hearing.

Damages to the house added up to $7800. My attorney told me we could get a judgment, but we'd probably just be getting in line behind some other people.

He was right. When the renters left, they left a box of paperwork behind. Going through it, I found where they still had an unsatisfied judgment against them from someone else for $4800 for the same thing.

I finally sold the house. My last tenant, a Deputy Sheriff, is still living in the house. I referred to him as the "deadbeat Deputy" while I still owned the house. Rent checks bounced, he tried to keep a dog after I'd had him read back to me the clause about no pets when he signed the lease, etc. He couldn't pay the rent one month because he used the rent money for a down payment on a pickup, etc. His last rent check bounced that he paid to me before paying rent to the new owner. I think he was naïve enough to think that once a check bounced, it was a dead instrument. I knew what day he got paid, hit the bank with the check again, and took the money in cash.

He called me and was furious. I'm convinced he intended to stiff me for the last month's rent thinking that since I no longer owned the house, I wouldn't have any leverage to collect the rent.

And, like I said, he's a Deputy Sheriff.

That might be a fun story to hear!

I thought the same thing. It must be a good story, but it might be unprintable.

my experience says this is good advice. Move on & don't waste your time & money.

If you write off the debt, then that is income to the tenant. Do your patriotic duty and turn them into Internal Revenue. Years of stories about rent houses. Always get terms and conditions of the leases agreement in writing.
State statutes require this. If you can get the tenant served with process, small claims court is always an option if you think it is worth the time and money.

All of these replys are the reasons I will never, ever have another rental. We ended up with a mobile home for reasons not relevant to this story. Rented it to a young couple, man had had a good job. I had recently fenced the property with field fence. He had 3 horses in the homes yard. The horses ate ALL the plants, grass and trees, except for a locust tree. He cut the fence in 3 places to use as gates. The horses mashed down most of the fence and bent most of the T posts. They moved after he quit his job cuz he had to drive 35 miles one way. Kept telling me his father in law was going to send them the rent money.Skipped out on last two months rent and left me a really huge mess. I spent $2500 fixing the place up, doing the work myself.

Going through the same thing right now. Been to court once, have to go back Thursday. Judge not much help. 3 window unit air conditioners, gas cook stove, hot water heater gone. Judge says I have to prove house is abandoned or give them more time. Have lost 2 months rent plus damages. HaS had no power since mid march, no water since 24 april, no gas for a while. But for about 15 years did very well. Screen your renters and put no faith in the justice system. People that cannot pay cannot be collected from.

We rented a house out to a "down on their luck" couple that had a sob story a mile long. They trashed our house and sold things I'd stored there, lost a lot of irreplaceable Gravely parts. Then the bum accused me of being the problem. One of the happiest days of my life is when they moved out. I'll never rent again.

Weve been pretty lucky with our 3 houses. 1 has the lady who use to live in the house years before, and she loves being home. Been there for like 4 years now, and has asked about selling, and we might. Another is in a lot better neighborhood, and for the most part has had respectable tenants. Of course they do leave their junk behind a lot of times. The 3rd is the one we have had the most trouble with. The people that are in it now are good people, and we have a contract with them to lease to own. The last tenants made meth in the kitchen. Cost a small fortune to clean up!! My mother in law is still part owner of that house. Unfortunatley, most of the time its cheaper for us to fix the problems than fight for our money. Here, you have to 30 days behind befor notice can be served, then they have an additional 30 days to get out, so they could literally be there 3 or 4 months rent free, and nothing you can do. (This is to keep it all legal!)

Totally agree, get them out, save your small claims cost. Get in line behind the other people they owe too.

My collection lawyer has only collected from one tenant, gave up on the rest.

Before I rent to anyone, they fill out an application, I look them up on doxpop, local court records. Any red flags, pay lawyer to research doxpop to find out how many times they have been sued. Go to Indidna offender search and find out how many times they have been in jail/

I love my mail box money. I have several similar stories but not in over 10 years. I have 8 rent houses. Like any other business you have to know how to do it. I start the eviction process on the 5th day late. Depending on how busy the constables are I can have them forcebly removed before the deposit is used up.

Back round,credit check, and at least 1 months deposit are mandatory. I have several questionable folks that I collected a triple deposit. They've been model tenants.

Interview in person and learn how to judge people. Check references. I have several tenants that have been with me over 10 years.

Wait till you get one the court(children services) won't let you evict because of small children + divorce, Dean. Lost between 7 to 8 thousand dollars,but the house was left in almost perfect shape.

If you have their SSN, you can file a 1099C for whatever amount you claim. Then the IRS will be collecting for the tax they didn't pay.