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Sort of MM - seething mad and have to vent
Short gist: Tenants stole my property on their zero notice move-out.
After my long line of awesome tenants, I unfortunately chose very poorly this time around. They've were extremely late on part of the rent for November and have $300 in past due rent for December, with January's due on the 12/27. Supposedly they had money coming in at the end of the month and told me they would pay it all by Jan. 1st.
Then moved out on Dec. 28th with zero notice and no back rent payment, certainly no Jan. payment. Actually didn't even tell me at all until I contacted them via e-mail and text, saying that it looked like they vacated the apartment and would they confirm this. Left a big hole in one wall and the place is filthy, nasty. I'm not exaggerating. They lived there for four months and I'm sure they never cleaned anything, except the bathroom...and the last time that was cleaned was probably 1-2 months ago.
Needless to say, my H and I are already mad and just shaking our heads at how deplorable these people are. Especially considering how flexible I was working with them on their money woes. But whatever, at least they're gone, time to move on and move forward. One small favor, although they never responded to the e-mail I sent at 10AM yesterday, they did SLAM a note into my steel front door at 10:30PM last night that was very few words but did have a signed acknowledgement that they had moved out.
And I just found out the next piece. Although small in comparison to everything else, it has made me the maddest. My H just called and told me they stole our space heaters!! One of them is a run of the mill guy...but will still be $40 to replace. But the other one is very nice and $110 on Amazon.
The house doesn't have central heat/A/C, but I do provide heat with window units. We also have ventless gas heaters we can install in the non-window unit rooms. So we gave them the choice of either doing that or letting them use the space heaters. They chose the space heaters. Probably had them in the apartment for a total of only 6 weeks. And then stole them when they moved out in the dead of night. There is NO QUESTION they knew those were not theirs to take.
I'm going to send them a polite and professional e-mail tonight that will be something to the effect of "it appears you all either accidentally or mistakenly took our two space heaters during your move out. Those were for you to use only during your tenancy with us. Upon receipt of this e-mail, please reply or call me so that we can schedule a mutually agreeable time for you all to return the heaters. Do not just leave them on the porch, they will not be safe there."
I assume I won't hear anything back and will follow up with a similar text message in a couple days. If I still hear nothing by Monday, I will send a much harsher e-mail outlining my intention to call the police for theft of my property if they do not make arrangements to return my items.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I am normally an easy going, mellow person, but right now I feel like I am about to explode.
Re: Sort of MM - seething mad and have to vent
I think that is why it is so hard for me and my H to understand also. About all of it. We just don't understand how people can live in such a vastly different reality than our own.
I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I always do the fair and right thing, even if it is at my detriment and I could get away with it. In fact, just last week my p/t job had direct deposited me double what they were supposed to. I immediately contacted them to let them know about their error.
But then there are people like this...who skip out on their rent. Leave me with hundreds of dollars in repair and cleaning fees (if I hire out). But, hey, since they know they aren't getting their security deposit back anyway...won't even do an iota of cleaning, including leaving trash on the floor and all over the place...and are going to steal my property on their way out on top of that!
But at times like these it really underlines that old saying that "karma is a bitch"...but karma also shines. I own an awesome house in one of the hottest neighborhoods in NOLA. While they have to sneak out in the middle of the night because they mismanage their money so badly they can't even pay for their housing. I just had to throw in a little snark
.
What jerks.
Is small claims court an option? I don't know much about it other than Judge Judy but I'm sure in this case the judge would rule in your favor.
Would it be worth taking them to small claims court for the January rent and December back rent? I know you have the deposit for damages (although it probably won't cover it all) but it maybe a way to get something out of them. Especially if they won't return your space heaters.
Hey All, sorry to be MIA. I was really sick last week and didn't come to work at all. Which is where I usually get my TN fix.
Thanks for all the sympathies!
I sent an e-mail to both the husband and wife on the 31st. I also sent a text message. Not only did they ignore those messages, but the wife had apparently already blocked my e-mail address. Just for the record, I only send necessary e-mails and have never inundated them. I have always maintained a polite and professional tone.
I had planned to call the police last Monday, when they didn't get in touch with me. But getting sick put a kibosh on that for now. I couldn't even speak and could barely move. In the meantime, we got a package for them in the mail. I'm going to have my H later today (with his e-mail) send another e-mail to arrange for a meet up where we can exchange my space heaters for their package. If they still don't get in touch with me, I'm calling the police on Wednesday.
I did find someone who totally cleaned the apartment, including the stove, for only $120. I'm super jazzed about that. I thought it would be at least a few hundred.
Because they left in the middle of the lease, they are basically responsible for the rent until I either get a new renter or until the lease expires on Feb. 26th. Plus (of course) their back rent, cleaning/repair costs, late fees, and cost of the heaters (if I don't get those back via the police). With that said, it is my understanding that judges in my area will usually limit the rent due on a broken lease to 30 days.
Until I get a new renter, I won't know what my full damages are. Once I do, I will send them an updated invoice via certified mail and give them 30 days to pay or make payment arrangements.
I'm sure they will ignore that letter. At that point, I will take them to small claims court. Unfortunately, even getting a judgment will not necessarily guarantee me much success. As they say, you can't get blood from a turnip. But the wife works for the school system and I can garnish her wages. I think, with a judgment, I can also garnish future tax returns.
The other thing a judgment will do, even if I never collect much, is torpedo both of their credit scores for the next seven years. I know they had talked about wanting to buy a house in the near future, but few banks will allow a closing with an open judgment or open collections.
On the real estate investing board I frequent, one guy was talking about he had gotten a judgment for a former tenant for $2200. A few years went by and he never received anything. And then randomly in the mail one day, he received a check for the full amount. Turns out, the former tenant was trying to buy a house and the bank wouldn't let them close on it until the judgment was cleared up.
I'll let you all know if I wind up on Judge Judy, lol.
To be fair, though. Even this bad experience has not deterred me from my real estate investing plan. It's one of those things were, most of the time, it's pretty laid back and awesome. But when times are bad, they are really bad. And that will happen sometimes.
However, I've had a number of tenants and all my other experiences have been perfect and wonderful. I ignored a few warning signs in the beginning with these people and, unfortunately, that was at my peril.
One possibly good thing is Mardi Gras is coming up in about three weeks and, if I'm lucky, I can make a month's rent in a few days on Air BnB.
Sounds like a good plan, good luck!