Malicious Tenant Ran was for 2 months

[Connor Bartle]

Hi there,

I recently was forced to evict a "tenant" from a home that I know in Royal Oak, MI. I use the work tenant is quotations, because the lease was not signed with an individual, but rather a LLC for a property management company who subleased the home on AirBnb.
The eviction came about after this management company essentially held the house ransom stating they would not vacate the property unless I wire transferred funds to meet their $3,650 demand. Mind you, this was all at the end of their 3-year lease term.

Long story short, the “tenant” was evicted under nonpayment of rent, and finalized after approximately 60 days. However, upon finally gaining access to the home it appeared that the water was running from every faucet in the house. According to the water meter, approximately 1 days after being served the court summons for eviction, the tenant turned on all of the faucets in the home and ran them for about 55 days. This resulted in approximately 600,000 gallons of water wasted and nearly $12,000 water bill over the course of 2 months. Not to mention, they also snipped all of the wiring in the basement of the home running all over the house, so there is also major electrical repairs needed. All this as revenge for not paying the ransom they held for transfer of tenancy. 

Simply put, does anyone have suggestions of how to dispute this with the city? Or if my landlord homeowners insurance policy will cover this? I would love to go after the person who ran the business themselves, but from what I've been told since my lease was with the LLC and not the individual running the show that my hands are tied.

Any help is great appreciated.

Thanks!