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Updated over 1 year ago, 08/03/2023
Tenant Owed Money and Destroyed the Property
Hello,
I rented out a rental property to a family. They stayed at the property for three years but never paid rent on time. I had enough of them and decided to vacate them since they stopped paying the rent. My property management company delayed the eviction process in which they missed a court hearing. By the time next court hearing was held and the tenant was evicted with the help of constable, the tenant owned about $3,500 in rent and utilities. They also busted all the doors, electric faceplates, holes in the walls, and left the house in a filthy condition with the tons of trash. The repair estimate was $1,800 for the doors and clean up. The property management company is sending the balance to collection with their collection company they use. What should be the best course of action here for me? Contact an attorney and take the tenant to small claim court? Or, ask the property management company to cover part the delayed rent for their negligence in not appearing in the court for the first time and not filing the case timely? Actually, the property management company representative lied to me that they appeared in the court and the court made an arrangement with the tenant to pay $400 a week. I found out that was a lie once i called the court myself. The property is in the Pennsylvania Reading area, but not in Reading itself.
What have I done so far -
1. Emailed the property management company asking what they are offering for their mistake.
2. Contacted a few attorney in the county but no luck finding anyone attorney. Most of them said they do not handle landlord / tenant issues.
3. I am thinking of garnishing their wage but I do not have their pay stub or employer information.
Could you please advise what I should do?
Thank you for you help in advance.
Sam