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I was renting my house to a family for several years. They were behind in paying rent for several months and kept giving one excuse after another, but I put up with it because we had a pretty good relationship for many years. Well, I started getting suspicious with all the excuses so I went to the house and noticed the house looked empty. Turns out they moved out without telling me and still owe several months rent. Luckily, they agreed to meet in person to give me the keys to the house which I didn't have because they changed the locks without me knowing. We had a long talk and they swore up and down they didn't have all the rent to give me, but would make payments. It doesn't seem like they're keeping their word on this and they have stopped answering my calls so I want to take this to the courts.
My question is how do I sue someone for owed rent if I don't have their new address to send the court papers to? I don't have any personal information such as a social security number, driver's license number, etc. I was hoping to take care of this myself in small claims court to save lawyer's fees, but I think I might need a lawyers help to do some investigative work. Is a lawyer able to track down people without the personal information I mentioned above? Will a lawyer take on this case with the stipulation that they only charge a fee if we recoup the money?
Any recommendations on how I can handle this on my own or any lawyer recommendations would be appreciated.
YIKES! How can you rent to someone without having that kind of information from them? It is going to be very very difficult to get anything from them. BUT - you said they agreed to meet in person. How did they agree? You must have managed to contact them to get them to agree. SO you should have at least a phone number? What means are they going to use to make payments? unless they sneak up & drop cash on your step, or stuff an envelope & mail it without a return address you should be able to get some info that way. And then there are lots of I'net sites. Or a PI.
FUnny story though - I had similar thing happen to me - family skipped out without paying rent. but they owned a deli across frm the local police station. When they bought the Deli they raised prices and did not treat the local police all that well. The police were all too happy when we went to them to tell them what happened to make sure we got paid everything. No need for COurts, etc.
I say let it go. If they had money, they would pay you. Even if you won the lawsuit, collecting is another story.
You're lucky they left and didn't destroy the place.
I would keep pressure on them and try to settle (Out of court) for a lesser amount.
You mentioned small claims court so the amount owed must be under $5,000, so it is probably not worth getting lawyers and PI's involved, you would end up paying them and having nothing left. Go to small claims court and file the suit giving the address of the house they rented as their address, odds are they had their mail forwarded. If the court notifies you that they can't be found then consider it an expense lesson in the information you take from renters before you rent to them
Do you really feel you should go after them ? I'm just saying, because sometimes it may not be worth the effort ... as Scott mentions above.
You are already looking as investigative work and stuff thats going to cost you. Are you going to make them pay that too ? Just food for thought !!
If there is a next time as far as renting your house goes, the minute a renter doesn't pay you rent for the month, don't mess around, post a pay rent or quit on the door. Then give them 5 days to pay you (don't forget to charge a penalty if that's in your lease - that way they'll know you mean business and stop testing you), and if they don't pay and come up with the typical excuses (aka lies) file for an eviction. You don't need a headache tenant.
I'd definitely go after them in small claims for the rent they owe you. It will make you feel better - at least you're taking action, and chances are they didn't move too far away, so either through the phone company, or as someone else suggested, try the post office for an address, etc. It shouldn't be too difficult to track them down. I ended up tracking down my tenants through their phone number.
This happened to my brother. First he could not get them out of the house. They had to go to court. They were evicted. They owe him a little over $10,000. Of course they have not paid it. Through his attorney my brother was able to place something on his ex-tenants' credit so they will not be able to get a loan or any type of credit extended to them until my brother receives is back rent. I think you wold be crazy to just let it go.
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