How to recover the rent from the bad tenant?

I've got a tenant who used to rent my investment property. The rent was not managed by an agent, instead it was managed by her friend (my aunty). The tenant left the premises when she & her husband brought their new property. Thank God they left. She breached the Tenancy Agreement in many ways, i.e did not pay rent on time, have had some 7-10 people stay in the house (only allow to have 5), upset the neighbours, etc. She did not pay any rent for 4 months (I was in overseas & could do nothing much). When they left, they damaged the walls, took away the kitchen knobs, garden water features, etc. Really really bad behaviours. They promised they will pay for the outstanding rent (about $5,000). However, it's 4 months since they left & I've received nothing from them. WHAT SHOULD I DO? Is there any way to recover the rent? $5,000 is a lot of money & they way they left the premises was bad.

Take pictures showing the damages to your house. Get contractors to give you written estimates on repairs to the property, Go to Small Claims court and sue them. You might need two separate suits. One for the owed rental money and the other for the damages because of the monetary limitations of small claims courts.

In small claims court explain the situation. You do not need a lawyer and because of their bad record ask for a lien on their property until the amount of the judgment is paid. This will insure that you will at least get something because judgments very often do not get paid.

Contact your former tenants before you do the above and warn them. Perhaps they will pay at that point which is better. If they pay only part of the debt inform them you will not wait but immediately go to court. Do not say that until you get the money in your hands and if it is a check wait until after it is cashed.

Good luck.

Take him to court. That's the only thing you can do. It's probably a long shot, but it's a start.

You can take them to court, if you haven't fixed up the house yet take pictures of all the damage they done, and make sure you have the documents stating that they didn't pay rent for four months. Also try to take a witness if you can.

You can take them to small claims court. I hope you took pictures of the damages though that would help your case a whole lot so you can get them for having to pay for all the damages and past rent. There is a judgement limit though for California is $7500.00 so if you are seeking more, then you would have to go to the regular court. I am going to give you a website that explains the process. This is from California and I don't know where you live. Try to google your state with "small claims court" They might have a different process. This should give you an idea of what is involved though. Good luck!

Take them to small claims court. You will need to bring the rent contract with you, and your bank records showing when they did pay, and when they didn't.

Even though it costs a little more money - property managers always pay for themselves in saved heartache and good management of property.