Is It Worth Legal Action?
I had a tenant skip out on paying rent. He left the home on Nov 14 the day before I was going to file for eviction. I have very good paperwork wich I could stick it to him for many things such as
1. Rent for Nov,
2. Failure to Clean home
3. Failure to return keys
4. Attorney Fees
The deadbeat still lives in the same town.
My question is, Should I file a judgement against this guy or is it even worth my time? He owes me around $1,450
Rob Carroll
Yes, file. This one you can take to small claims court without any further legal expenses. I also just started reporting these deadbeats to the credit bureaus.
If this person has a job you can have his wages garnished. I think it is worth the try for a few more bucks.
All I can tell you is my experince.
I retained an attorney who charged me $250 and he got me a judgement of approx 4 grand.
Well it has been 3 years and have not been able to collect a penny and of course I had to pay the attorney.
My advice would be try to think how nice it was you didn't have to spend money and energy to evict.
Learn a lesson and move on.
Quote:
On 2003-12-01 13:24, sammyvegas wrote:
Yes, file. This one you can take to small claims court without any further legal expenses. I also just started reporting these deadbeats to the credit bureaus.
If this person has a job you can have his wages garnished. I think it is worth the try for a few more bucks.
Sammy I am intrigued.
How do you report them to credit agencies?
I contacted the big three and was told they only accepted reports from large corps. They said if they accepted reports from a rental owner like me what is to prevent ANYONE from putting bad reports on people's credit.
Hire a collection agency that has the ability to report the debt to all 3 services. Not only do I use mine for Real estate, I also use them for my business. They have collected about 90% of my toughest cases, and they are bulldogs. Plus, I arranged so that they only get paid when I do. [ Edited by gamado on Date 12/01/2003 ]
Will collection agencies take contingencies like that? If they do, this could be cheaper than going thru an attorney.
I bought a house where one tenant was not paying for 2 months. I refused to close until this case was settled. The (previous) owner agreed to put 2 months' rent in escrow and pursue the eviction. The poor landlord is already out 2 months' rent + attorney's fee+ 2 months' rent on escrow. Last week the owner called me and said he will pay the tenant $300 to help her move and she is intrigued.
Eviction can be costly.
I agree with sammyvegas on the small claims court idea. I just filed one in Washington it cost me $25 and two simple forms to fill out, then $50 to have the defendant served. If you win I would file a writ of garnishment and get the deadbeats paycheck or a writ of execution and seize the guys personal property to cover your award.
Collection agencies will take contingencies but can get 30% or more of what they collect.
You may want to try small claims court first. It is civil court and the burden of proof is proponderence of the evidence (anything over 50%).