recouping unpaid rent and costs from tenants

[Nat C.]

Firstly, sorry for my naive question but I've never been in this position before.

I am in the process of evicting a tenant.

The current rent they owe is-

November rent- $450 + $75 late fee

December rent- $450 + $75 late fee

There is a court date this week, which I assume the tenants will appear at and try to make any blande excuse/lie they can about why they should continue to stay longer rent free. Inevitabley they will have an eviction order against them and then I will have to pay for the constable to come and carry it out.

My question is, what do landlords do in this case if they want to attempt to recoup money? The amount I would be trying to claim is $1050 in rent and late fees plus approximatelt $150 in court fees. Does the landlord then take them to small claims court if they want to try to get this money?

In my country of origin, there is only one court case and the judge rules at the time of eviction, how much the tenant has to pay. If the tenant doesn't pay this money, then you simply send it to a collection agency and they usually get the power to deduct it from the tenants bank account or future earnings.

Now obviously a lot of landlords would not bother, as they know the tenant is never going to pay that money. I was only considering it because I have been in regular contact with the tenants lawyer, who is actually from a good firm (I assume working pro-bono or state funded). The lawyer had previously asked me to allow the tenants to live there indefinitely rent free, as they were waiting for some big workplace compensation payout.

If anyone has any thoughts, advice or experience on this, it would be greatly appreciated.