How can I get money owed from rental owners in hiding?

Question

A while ago I rented a townhouse & when I moved in I found it was completely infested with cockroaches & hadn't been cleaned prior to moving in. Long story short after weeks of broken promises from the rental agent I took them to the Small Claims Tribunal to get out of the 1 year lease, get the bond back & try to get the rent back. In the end I was awarded 1 months rent & the property owners were ordered to pay (since the agents had paid the rent to them) within 1 month. Nearly a year on they're yet to pay. I've tried to chase this up but I was never given the owners address or any way to contact them so I can only rely on the rental agents to contact them for me and of course they're less than helpful. So my question is what is the best/cheapest way to track down their address and contact details so I can serve them with the order of payment forms? Debt collector? Private investigator? I only have their last name and rental property address and I know they live interstate. Thanks :)

Answer 1

It is hard to pin them down, all you can do is report  to banks.

There is no other way I think.

You need to be careful next time.

Good  luck mate

http://www.rsibuyshomes.com/

Answer 2

PIs will costs you about $10k.  How much money are you talking about here?  1 months rent?  A couple of thousand dollars at the most?  You can take them back to court, but the judgment is already against them so you've probably done all you can.  My parents are owed about $5k in back-rent from 5 years ago.  They'll probably never collect that money. You may just want to move on.

Answer 3

I'd suggest you go back to small claims and advise them that they have not complied with the court order.  The court will chase them up and you shouldn't be up for any further expenses.  Pass the forms onto the agent and document the dates you have been in communications with them... the agent won't want to get involved in something dodgy!

Good luck!

Answer 4

try looking up in the white pages, if they owned they owned the property it will be under their name. once you found tehir name get a private investigator to trck them down and talk to them. if that doesnt work try contacting the media and pressure them into paying it.

sounds a bit mean but they knew what they where doing