OT rant: but has been discussed before. Rental property.

We FINALLY got our renters out after getting about 1 1/2 months rent. They moved in about April 15.

It cost us court costs plus taking a day off work to go to court.

We didn't get a damage deposit.

When they finally left yesterday and we got access to the house, they had done a lot of vandalism.

The font porch stairs have been torn off and thrown in a pile. Electricity has been shut off, so am hauling water to the horses (water from the well to the horses was part of the rental agreement).

They had unapproved large intact dogs in the house that urinated in every corner so all the flooring has to be replaced along with a lot of subflooring.

They took the shower heads, the burners out of the gas stove, and all the shelves out of the refrigerator. Pounded holes with what appears to be hammer damage in at least one piece of paneling on every wall.

The judge "awarded" costs and back rent when we went to court, but how do you get money from someone when you have no way to know where they are?

Do we take pictures to the sheriff and see if they can catch up with them, or will this just invite more damage from them since land can't be moved? DOUG

I had a somewhat similar experience with a tenant. I did a little checking and found out she had a clear title to her car. I got a lien on it from the magistrate judge, filed it and then when she said she didn't have any money I told her I would have the car towed in after 7 days. She got the money real quick then. Gene Davis

That's a great plan.

The sheriff is of no use to you. He will tell you that it's a civil matter and you'll have to sue for damages.

If you find them they will deny doing it and claim it was that way when they moved in.

Likely you'd win in court and get a judgement against them. Collecting it is another matter. If you're aggressive you can have their wages garnished, have any property they own seized and sold at auction etc.

I had one old judgement (over 15yrs) that I just collected on last year. they had bought a house some years ago and sold it. When they went to closing they were informed that their "settlement" was going to be over $11k LESS than what they thought as the judgement came up in the records search. They didn't even recognize me sitting at the table waiting for my check....

Always take date stamped pictures of the property just prior to a tenant moving in. Likewise take them asap as a tenant vacates.

Always run a credit/background check, confirm their employment and never ever ever rent without at least one months security deposit.

I allow one pet under 30lbs with an additional one month security deposit as a pet deposit only in houses that do not have wood or carpeted floors. Wood or carpet, no pets period.

My property manager inspects every property once every 60days.

Your rental application should also have a place for landlord references... check with who they've rented from before. Get the names, addresses and phone numbers of their relatives/references and check those too..

On the 31st day that rent is late we send the eviction notice unless they've contacted us in advance and made arrangements that we find acceptable.

I used to be much more flexible but changed my ways about 10yrs ago.. Now I don't mess with them. Fair but firm is the only way to deal with tenants.

I'm in court every couple of months but we own a lot of rentals. I prosecute bad checks, sue for damages and am relentless in enforcing judgements. I've had trucks, tools, plasma TVs, lawn mowers etc seized and sold at auction to settle judgements as well as garnished wages.

Unless they skip the state they're eventually going to pay and I've even gotten a few that did move out of state with wage garnishments.

They also end up paying all the costs associated with collecting on the judgment... which sometimes is more than they owed to begin with.

Court costs, attorney costs, service costs, sheriff's enforcement costs and interest all add up.

I get first and last months rent and security deposit up front (3 months rent) If they have a pet it's another months rent.

Now ya see why I advised the other Gent DONT RENT because even as an Attorney its almost impossible to recover any money judgment from a person who is basically judgment proof and especially when you dont know his wheraabouts to get legal service of process on him. The Sheriff isnt gonna do you any good unless maybe you can get a warrant and again you have to locate the individual.

If my clients want a lease agreement I tell them I can make it one or 100 pages to cover everything under the sun butttttttttttttt what good is it if the person is judgment proof and you cant find him......

Now when I was a kid a person was ashamed if he owed money and cared about his reputation but with all the "progress" and Liberalism thats taken place since the sixties s"""ual revolution and we cant judge anyone or impose moral values its a world for the worse in my opoinion grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I found out years ago in my semi retired country law practice COLLECTIONS IS NOT AN AREA IM GOING TO PRACTICE because you cant get any satisfaction for your client in todays world

Nuff said

John T

Bingo, which is why I am not a landlord.

Dean

The IRS has power to collect from you. I had a judge tell me good luck collecting. I have about $10,000 in judgements and can't collect. Look at it this way, the only thing a judge can do is legally get them out.

I know a man who has over $1.5 million in judgements from tenants.

Next time do a credit and criminal check before you rent. Require pay stubs as proof of income. You will get smarter or you won't last as a landlord.

I can go to my court house and use their computers to access public records. Put in a person's name and find out how many times they have been in court and what for.

I can go to Indiana's home page and do an offender search. It will tell me how many times they have been in the big house and what they were in there for.

Both county and state records are free.

As a landlord, you can sign up with credit services and it will cost you to do a credit check and background check. I get signed papers from tenants before I do this check.

If you know what you are doing, you can get an emergency hearing in a week or so and 14 days later get rid of the tenants, not a month and half.

Next time get a month's rent and a month's rent for deposit. Don't rent to anyone who asks you if you can work with them. NO DOGS OR CATS!

Prospective Tenant pays for the credit check. It's called a "application fee"....

Judgements can be enforced, you have to be willing to do it. You get what's called an "enforcement order" once you find where they work or that they have property to seize. you then take that to the sheriff who assigns a deputy to carry out the seizure if it's property. If they have a job the judge signs a garnishment order which is sent directly to their employer.

Most people are too lazy to make the bums pay. I make them pay + interest and costs.

Being a landlord has made me cynical and I believe little of what anyone tells me until I know it to be true.

If you value your property check up on your tenants and don't put up with squat. I evicted one last year for parking on the grass and having a inoperable vehicle on the premises. Lease plainly states, no parking on the lawn or anywhere but a carport, garage or driveway. No expired tags, no vehicles under repair etc.

Re-sodding the damage to the lawn cost $900.

I have scores of great tenants but there's always a few that slip through everything you've set up to eliminate them. That's why you have to inspect your property regularly. Don't be a lazy land owner and you'll have few problems.

I rented a house to a couple one time, ended up almost like your renters, got exactly zero from them. If I ever have a place thats empty, I'd burn it before I'd rent again.

You have to be COLD, Hard and NEVER accept any excuses..
If you do, you should not have (and won't have for long) any rental property...
You MUST accept the FACT that there ARE Scum-Bags that will have and OWN NOTHING, just because they Live on people that they can dupe into allowing them to Trash a good place..
Ask them and they will tell you "this place is a Dump"..when they are kicked out..
Yep, I have had to "Set-Out" a tenant or two and should have several more..
I hope you can tell, I have learned a thing or 3..
GET at least 2 Months rent, as a Deposit and stand by the extra "Late Fees" if they are late..
You may as well figure you are out the repairs on the house, and chalk it up to "Learning to be a Landlord"..
If you just "can't" be that way, you better Sell the place..
Ron.

I couldnt imagine renting to scum like that, cause it would be all over the news how I went nuts and beat the crap out of the renter.

A good friend of mine lives in a nice rural area, 5 acre lots, nice homes. Well his neighbors house was rented home, large 2500 sq foot home with basement, 3 acres, nice. Well.....A renter decided to make 1 of the upstairs bedrooms a guinea pig room. Yep, they put up a gate on the door and threw sawdust chunks on the carpet and let these guineas have at it. Carpet was destroyed and the house smelled like a barn. Kitchen wrecked, flooring busted up, you name it.
BOTTOM LINE: If you rent a home be sure that you have in the contract that every month you do a tour of the home and inspect for damage and absolutely no Pets.....Period. (not even a fish tank)
People that rent (usually) dont give a schitt and wreck the place. My parents had a rental home, across the street....but.....the quality of people is not good. Carpet over time turns to schitt anyway, but....its worse with renters. My parents actually had the house torn down cause they were only clearing $100 per month after insurance and maint. and all the crap. (and this is nice area too)
Renting sucks.
I am done ranting now.

Sorry to hear about this. We've had some real problem renters, but nothing as bad as this.

As I understand it, you want to a) collect the judgement you already have against them, and b) sue them for the additional damages that you didn't already know about.

In order to do either one, you need to know where they are (so you can serve them) and what assets or sources of income they have. If you can serve them, you can compel them to appear in court and disclose their assets and income. But chances are they will claim they have neither. So there you are. An expensive lesson.

Just be glad they are gone.

I had a rental house on a second farm for about 15 years. Half the renters were good, half were opposite. Worst, dumbest "applicant" told me he wanted to rent a house in the country, cuz" "you can"t be rough with a house in town"! Another came here, dumped his ashtray into my driveway, and then wanted to see the house. Drove 30 miles for nothing! Both lacked "people skills". Sold the farmstead to a nice neighbor within hours of listing it....best thing to do.

Wage garnishment: Sounds like a real easy way to get your money. As an employer, this is a royal pain in the behind! Why should I have to suffer and go to a LOT of trouble in order for you to get your money? I"ve been served these wage garnishments many times.......but the last one was the last. I now tell all my employees that if I'm EVER served a wage garnishment on them, they will no longer be employed by me. I fire them on the spot. It's not MY responsibility to see to it that you get your money. Therefore, I now refuse to do so.