Is Small Claims Court Worth it?

Question

I had a renter that wanted out of his lease early. I told him to pay me 4 months rent up front, put the house back in order, return the keys and garage door opener and he's free to vacate and I would not return the security deposit. We were scheduled to meet yesterday. He did not show. No money, he did leave the keys but did not return the garage door opener and left some $100.00 damage . won't answer his phone or return my calls. He had 9 months left on the lease and blew off paying me the 4 months up front to get out of it early. And I had prepared an amendment ready to sign which actually protects him not me. But since he was a no show, there's no amendment and he's still tied to the original 12 month lease. What's more realistic? Do I take him to small claims court for the 4 months payment he was supposed to pay me for early lease termination? Or do I take him for the 9 months he has left on the original lease since he did not abide by the conditions drawn up on the amended lease? Not sure what to do since he has vacated. Can he be made to pay for future rents if he is not living there because of the signed 12 month lease? I must file tomorrow before he disappears.

I don't want to waste $150.00 filing fee for a judge to agree with me and then I never see the money.

Answer 1

You need to wait until the apartment is re-rented - because you have an obligation to try and rent it - which would reduce any damages the former renter may owe.

Then you can also add all the expenses necessary to return the house back to the rentable condition.

After you have all your receipts, then you take him to court.  But you're back to getting blood out of a turnip - so even if you get a judgement getting money or property is another matter.  

Answer 2

Forget about the 4 months of rent amendment - it is not signed, so it is invalid.

Forget about the 9 months of rent left on the lease.

You are not going to be able to file tomorrow because you do not know what your actual damages are as of yet. File for the full lease and the judge will not side with you. In many locales, the judge will only allow you a few months rent at max anyway.

You are required by law to mitigate your damages.

You take care of any damage repairs or replacements that are necessary. Advertise the property for rent. Any costs for these things can be legally dedcuted from the deposit.

Check your state's landlord tenant laws to see how much time you are required to send the security deposit return/accounting.

You MUST send an accounting of the security deposit within that amount of time or you could actually face being sued, regardless of whether the tenant broke the lease or not. Crazy, but true, especially in California or on the East coast.

If you do not have a forwarding address, send it via Certified Mail, return receipt requested to the tenant's last known address. With ceritifed mail, return receipt requested, you will receive the tenant's new address on the return card if the letter is forwarded. Cover your rear!

Within the allotted time per you state's landlord tenant laws, send an accounting of the security deposit less September's rent and any damage charges. If the amount owed is more than the security deposit, show a balance due and demand full payment within 10 days.

If the accounting should be returned to you, keep it unopened. You may need this in court.

You wait until you find a replacement tenant.

Once a replacement tenant is found, you add up any rent owed and balance due per the security deposit accounting and sue for that amount. You can have the tenant sued at his home address or at his employment.

It's is worth the filing fee to get the judgment because the filing fee is added into the judgment as, well as interest.

Also, judgments can be renewed for up to 20 years, so you've got some time to collect, with interest.

This way your ex-tenant's credit and rental histories are screwed, for a long time. He will have a hard time finding a rental for quite some time.

You've got 20 years in which to garnish wages or bank accounts or file liens againt his personal property (future homes, cars, etc).

If he ever wants to buy a car or house, the judgment will have to be paid off. Insurance companies and employers all check credit nowadays, this judgment will affect him with higher insurance rates and the possibility of being denied employment as well.

You may be surprised someday in the far away future when you end up receiving full payment plus interest *after many years of accrual.

Answer 3

suck it up and re rent it. you werent going to return the security anyway. you had no right to collect those 4 months because you are supposed to re rent it and i doubt you would have given his money back if you did, so then you got paid twice..

Answer 4

You have to make a reasonable attempt to mitigate your damage. If you try to rent the apartment and can't then you have actual damage (along with the physical damage he left behind). If you do not attempt to mitigate, once you file he can claim that despite your contract you could have had much less damage by re-renting. If you go to small claims court I would go for the full 9 months since he didn't stick around to sign the amended lease you offered. Just offering it doesn't make it enforceable if he didn't sign and agree to it.

Answer 5

We have been to court more times than I can count in the last 10 years, and I have only seen the money owed to me maybe 3 times.  It is worth it to me to take them to court to ruin their dead beat credit butt.  Did you run a credit report on him before he moved in?  If not, he may have bad credit and won't care if you ruin it and take him to court, then don't waste your money.  But if you ran it , and he had good credit, file in court.  Usually people with good credit come up with the money, in my case anyway.  They don't want a Civil Case showing up on their report.  I would sue him for whatever he had left on his lease, but it all depends on laws in your state.  In our state, you can do that, but rarely get it.  The judge usually amends it to the current month owed + costs.  Any damage he caused, may have to be filed under a different case as damage.  In Pennsylvania, you can't due for damage and rent in the same case, you have to do it separate.  Good luck, sorry I couldn't be more help.