Collecting from recent ex-tenants

[K S.]

I've rented-out my single-family house in West Seattle for several years while living in California. It's been somewhat smooth but now I have a mess. I've been busy with my day-job so I haven't managed the property management companies tightly enough.

I'm hoping the experts here can offer some guidance.

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I had a terrible property management company who stuck me with deadbeat tenants (an unmarried couple) who started paying rent late soon after they moved-in. After hearing multiple excuses from the company, I fired them for not communicating with me, for not posting 3-day Pay Rent Or Vacate notices for the tenants to pay faster, and for not collecting late fees. I switched to a new & bigger management company. The tenants continued to pay rent late (3 months in a row) but the new property manager posted the 3-day notices and each time the tenant paid with cash or money order.

We mutually agreed that the tenant could break the lease 2 months early so we could get the couple out. Of course, the tenant paid their so-called last month (November) with a check, which wasn't allowed, which bounced, and then they kept sliding the final move-out date by a day or two until he finally left on December 10.

After getting access to the house, the mid-range estimates for repairs & cleaning & trash-hauling are $4000 (more than 2 months rent), and the water was shutoff due to non-payment (the city switched it back to my name and is demanding $1100 in back-payment). (We're also thinking that the dirt & new aluminum-sided insulation in the storage room indicates they were growing pot.)

Due to the switch in property managers, nobody seems to have full rental documentation other than the signed lease. This means no contact number for the woman renter, no emergency contacts, no copy of the credit report, no forwarding address etc.

I don't have a specific judgement against the renters. I have managed to obtain a mailing address for one friend/family member.

What are my options?
At this point I'm still mad and resisting letting the tenants get away with it; I can't afford to ignore the $6000+ loss.

How do I get a "judgement" against these tenants?

Do I sue them in small claims court? What can I collect? They owe at least: Nov rent + Dec partial rent + repairs + utilities + lost rental days due to repairs + late fees... The new manager is checking whether other utilities are unpaid.

Can I personally file a claim against their credit so it shows up to others?

Do I turn them over to a collection company and feel lucky if I receive 50%?

Lastly, does any law in Washington state prevent me from creating a website with the names of the tenants saying that I'm searching for them ... along with a description of their charges and pictures of the damage they caused?

Thank you

[Duncan Taylor]

Originally posted by @K S.:

...
Due to the switch in property managers, nobody seems to have full rental documentation other than the signed lease. This means no contact number for the woman renter, no emergency contacts, no copy of the credit report, no forwarding address etc.

...

Lastly, does any law in Washington state prevent me from creating a website with the names of the tenants saying that I'm searching for them ... along with a description of their charges and pictures of the damage they caused?

Thank you

First, sorry for the problems you've experienced.

From what you wrote above, I'd be dragging BOTH of the property managers back into this with me. They screwed up. They should have a bond to cover damage and losses due to their not following industry best practices. If they can't provide what is needed to start a skip-trace on these people, they screwed up and their bonding company needs to step in.

On your last point, while it might feel good to publish that site, it could come back to bite you when you do find these people and start your action against them.

Always remember, when you are going to end up in court, and it looks like this will, you want to be the one with cleanest hands standing before the judge.