Tenants And Small Claims Court
Hi All,
Is it possible to take a tenant to small claims court for back rent and late fees?
What about if a Tenant leaves and the cost to fix the property is greater than the security deposit. Can the Tenant be taken to Small claims court if they refuse to pay the balance?
Thannks in advance for your responses.
JS.
Come on people, I'd really appreciate an answer or just a shared experience. Seems like it's getting harder to get responses here at TCI anymore.
Someone, Anyone???????
JS
You can take them to small claims court. It is easier to win if you have them sign a walkthrough before they move. Otherwise how do you prove they did the damage or it was that way when they moved in. You have to take pictures to small claims. Your description just wont paint the picture like a photo.
Also you have to make sure you comply with the Landlord/Tennant act in your area.
A lot of very experienced and long-time LLs brag about their never having to take a T to court, and either bribe them out of the property or help them move, etc.
Looking back, I guess I've done the same thing, and although I've threatened to evict, somehow they always move right before that's necessary.
Funny and true story: Bought a little fixer several years ago and it was occupied by a sour little woman who told me in very strong language that she wasn't going to be paying any rent. Period!
But, purely by accident, one day when I was standing on her front porch talking to her, I happened to look over her head into the kitchen...where I saw a weird sight: A car battery on the kitchen floor was wired to a lantern hanging from the ceiling.
Thinking about what I'd seen, it came to me later that this was because the electricity was obviously turned off !
Sure enough, I drove back over to the property the next day and walked around to the electric meter and found it locked in the OFF position.
It then hit me that just maybe this was illegal under our city's health ordinances, that is living without working utilities...and upon my calling the city health dept, and chatting with one of the health inspectors, he almost hit the roof when I told him the lady was living with no electricity!
Within the hour he & a city cop & I were all at the lady's door. She came to the door, the health inspector told her she had to move NOW, and we waited on the porch until she came out of the house.
A done deal, with my having to file nothing, pay nothing, etc.
Interesting too, how meek she was when she left, this time ASKING me for permission to get back into the house to retrieve her things. I did have to go back and let her in whereupon she did get her things and left permanently.
So if anybody has a similar situation, do explore the utliity angle, as I'd guess it's illegal everywhere there are utilities to live without one or the other of them, and the city or municipality might just be equally effective.
[addsig]