01-23-2009, 03:34 PM | #1 |
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Tennant Issues....Any advice?
I know some of you guys invest in real estate so I have a question. I have a tennant that owes me $5000. She has moved out so I do not have to worry about eviction or anything. What are the best choices to get this money? Spoke with lawyer about small claims court but he didn't want to get involved because he has a small practice. Anyone have any luck with small claims court? Thanks guys!
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01-23-2009, 03:39 PM | #2 |
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Send a legal letter demanding payment...if they dont respond...kill them
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01-23-2009, 03:41 PM | #3 |
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You pretty much will have to sue them.
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01-23-2009, 03:42 PM | #5 |
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I would love to!
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01-23-2009, 04:07 PM | #6 |
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Yep. Then you get to go to small claims court and go through arbitration, at which point you'll have to agree to a smaller amount (probably around half) or go to trial. It doesn't really matter which of the two you choose, because she'll never pay anyway.
I've had people leave in the middle of the night, flat out refuse to pay (which sucks because eviction takes ~90 days), and my favorite - adjusting their lease agreement on their own. |
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01-23-2009, 04:09 PM | #7 |
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Yep, your stuck with small claim if the limit there is $5k and under some small claims courts have limits on how much you can recover, usually a few $K.
I have hear where some people file criminal thief charges against some who owed them that kind of money. This depend on the local laws and such now a days laws tend to favor the renter over the owner anyway. Thus the reason for large security deposits |
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01-23-2009, 04:49 PM | #8 |
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I am not sure about IL but in CA if the amount of claim is $5K the best and least expensive course of action is small claims court. However, beware of your chances for winning the case these days. All she has to do is to look distraught, shed a couple drops of tears and tell the judge that she has lost her job and has no money. They almost always go for the weak party in small claims court and judge's decision is final. You can not repeal the case if you lose.
Good luck .... Last edited by Tondtar; 01-23-2009 at 05:05 PM.. |
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01-23-2009, 04:55 PM | #9 | |
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Quote:
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01-23-2009, 05:46 PM | #10 |
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Thanks guys. I know the law favors these people, which is such BS. Amazing that these people can get away with all of this. I was hoping in small claims court that they would garnish her wages and get my money. I have a lot of documentation stating that she owes me money and her acknowledging that. Hope this helps. IL law allows up to $10K for small claims court.
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01-23-2009, 05:47 PM | #11 |
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Wow! People will think of anything these days!
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01-23-2009, 10:57 PM | #13 |
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Its not that the odds are against you. It can just be a pain in the ass. Its not expensive or difficult to file in small claims. Some jurisdictions have everything you need on-line. Im assuming that you kept the deposit and have taken that into consideration. If there was any property damage then photograph that and include in he claim as well as documentation on repairs and cost.
Best case is that you file a suit against the former tenant, get them served and they end up not following through. You can then just get a default judgement against them and that could haunt them down the road. I did that to someone who knocked over my motorcycle a number of years ago. They did not follow up after being served and so I got a judgment for $10K against them. About 4 years later I get a call from an atty for the who I had a judgment against. He was trying to sell a house (cant remember if it was inherited or just he had one then and wanted to sell) but couldn't because I had an open judgment against him and it attached itself to his property automatically so it was holding up the pending sale... Long story short I got my money and I was also able to be a pain to the guy years later in the process... Double retribution... You should also check to see how you can report this to the 3 credit bureaus. A mark like that will be seen very unfavorably by other possible land lords since soo many now days will run credit checks before renting. Judgments/ court actions will automatically go on her credit file. |
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01-23-2009, 11:05 PM | #14 |
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I'm not sure if there are legal differences between private landlords and commercial landlords, but typically if you don't pay your rent for an apartment, they can go through a collection agency to get their money back.
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