need help (insurance, lease, furnish)

[pscfk1]

I rent out a house in macon ga and I would like to ask anybody that rents out houses please give me your advise?
I rented my house out and i furnish window air conditioner units. i bought one at lowes that was a 2 ton unit that cost 600.00 about 2 years ago. I recently had to evict a tenant and they took the unit with them or sold it one. Has anyone had this happen to them and if so what did you do?
Thanks for any help you can give me.

[j0ja]

That is very irritating. I have had non-paying tenants destroy things like parts of a deck and things like that. I knew the guy was very broke and probably still is. I just made him leave (after threatening eviction), he owed well over 1G in back rent. Of course, I kept the deposit as he had trashed the place.

You can try to sue them in small claims court, but most likely they don't have anything. You also have to find out where they are now to have papers served and taking them to court may be a waste of time and will cost you even more $$$.

[juliehaley]

pscfk1,
Unfortunately, I have to agree with jOja above. Spending good money to chase after bad is never a good feeling. With renters, I've decided the best policy for me is to check all of their references and their background before entering into a lease. With a vacancy, I often find it is difficult to convince myself it is better vacant than to be rented to a questionable person. But - as I've discovered - more often than not it usually is cheaper to keep looking.
If you have insurance which covers theft, you can report it. Although your rise in insurance costs could outweigh the benefit.
You could also look into filing criminal charges of theft against your tenants. That won't cost you anything. If you are lucky, they may give you the opportunity come to a deal agreement to have them pay for the replacement in exchange for dropping the charges. I know business is supposed to be just business, but when it comes to someone stealing your personal property, it is always difficult to make that distinction!
Good luck; I hope you get some satisfaction.