I rented a new home to a woman, her two grown boys and 2 girls in October 05 with a one year lease at $1,400/month. She paid her rent on time each month and there were never any landlord/tenant issues. During the Easter weekend, she and the boys packed everything and vacated the house during the middle of the night and left a mess. They had spent almost 6 months in a brand new pristine house and left it a nasty mess. I had to repaint the entire inside, all the walls and baseboards, even the interior doors because they painted the semi-gloss surfaces with flat paint. The carpet was so nasty it had to be removed and I had tile installed throughout and I'm still cleaning the bedroom carpets. Kitchens applicances, cabinets, drawers, everything had to be sanitized and cleaned. The garage floor was stripped and painted in an effort to clean the oil and rust spots. Since April I have been actively trying to rent this house with no success. I have incurred the expenses of putting this house back together and the expense of no rent through the remainder of the contract. I believe she has moved her family to the North Carolina area and I am tempted to try and collect back payments and expenses. What are my rights as a Landlord and what can I do to collect monies owed to me from this woman?? I have tracked her to a city in North Carolina and believe she still works for Bank of America at an $80K a year job. Thanks in advance for any advice provided.

mr.yet

File suit in your county, and have the paper served on her where she now lives.
If she does show up for court, the court should grant a summary judgment against her. The judgment can be use to garnish her wages at Bank which most likely she will not want that to happen, the bank will most likely terminate her employement.

Just some ideas.

Cvillecpm

First - you need to hire a professional property manager to handle your property.

She is a PRO meaning a professional tenant and they know a SUCKER newbie, uninformed landlord the minute they meet one. You were in awe of the $1400 she was willing to pay and failed to properly screen her application and administer a lease properly. In 6 months, you should have been in the property at LEAST 1x and seen the condition, etc.

Hire an attorney to track her down. If you have her social security #, you can run a credit report on her and I bet you will find judgements, etc against her.

Again, hire a professional property manager.

Fr_Chuck

Ok, if you are dealing with this large amount of money it does appear it will be over the limit for small claims court. If not you can file there,
If she moved, the post office will have a forwarding address if she left one, if she did not leave one. You an contact her work, and if they will not supply an address to you nicely, have them served with papers to appear in court and provide her current address.

But most likley yes you will need an attorney if you have major loses, He will review your lease paperwork and be sure you are allowed to collect under the terms of your lease.

Please understand I rent houses all the time and sell many on contract for deeds, people moving out in the middle of the night with my fridge, stove and air units is almost to be expected. If you own rental property you need to know the court clerk, the small claims clerk and judge and the DA and the sheriff on a first name basis, since you will be calling them all the time.