Eviction and Rent Collection
Unfortunately I am in the process of evicting my tenants for non-payment of rent. I was quite naive when I originally rented to them and have since discovered they provided falsified information on the rental application. In other words, I don’t know their social security numbers, drivers licenses or places of employment. I have hired…
Unfortunately I am in the process of evicting my tenants for non-payment of rent. I was quite naive when I originally rented to them and have since discovered they provided falsified information on the rental application. In other words, I don’t know their social security numbers, drivers licenses or places of employment. I have hired a housing lawyer to get a warrant to have them evicted. My question is, once they leave, what is the best way to pursue them for the back rent?
They don’t get MAIL? Bank statements? Personal letters? Credit card bills? Utility bills? Automobile registration? Good place to start looking…………
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donatella – this is anon 10:08, in my brother’s case it wasn’t worth it (and i should have been more clear about this) b/c the people that owed him rent were college students with out of state guarantors. From what my brother told me, its a lot more complicated to get a judgement on someone who is out of state and that is why it wasn’t worth trying to pursue.
Well, I don’t know about the original poster, but it is worth it to ME to recover even one month rent and I have done it in small claims court(unlike the brother of 10:08am – ?). I am sorry that you have gone through this and it is a painful lesson in doing all the proper due diligence up front, but what DO you know about them? Do they have a car? Motorcycle? Any assets? If they have a judgement against them, they can have their assets used for payment.
If you really have nothing on them, you are out of luck for now unfortunately.
Good luck.
It really depends on how much they owe you, if its only a few months rent it may not be worthwhile pursuing. My brother is a landlord of a 22 unit building and an attorney and he has never once gone after someone that stiffed him on the rent b/c it wasn’t even worth his time to file the papers. That said if it is a significant amount of money and you think you might be able to just represent yourself it might be worthwhile to get a judgement against the person (assuming you can find out their real identity). But most likely you will just have to take a writeoff when you do your taxes, good luck 🙂
score, another one for Ben Dover!~
You don’t know where they work
and their Social’s not OK
you have no license number
yet you still expect they pay
Sorry dude but I must say;
you took it in the tush!
but think of it another way;
you’re no dumber than Bush!
I’d suggest a swift beating will be your best chance of seeing any money.
Housing court and nyc law are ridiculously anti lanlord and pro tenant. Going after them via the legal system will simply net you a big lawyer bill and a long headache.
Hire a thug to “collect” it for you…it’s your best chance of seeing any money…