Is it worth going after tenants in small claims court?

[Joseph Montes]

Hello BP community,

In January, I made a post (http://goo.gl/B42l3t) detailing the woes I’d encountered while trying to wrangle payments from the two tenants in my 3BR SFH in Lansing, MI. It’s March now and, after stumbling through the court system & getting a writ of eviction issued, the tenants have finally vacated the property, leaving behind a mess of their junk.

My question to the community: is it worth trying to go after them in small claims to get the money I lost as a result of this process?

Here’s a short list of what I might try to claim:

1. Rent: $2,250 for three months or $3,000 if March can be counted, although I don’t know which day they left. Regardless, the unit won’t be ready this month.
?2. Legal & court costs: $700
?3. Cost to rekey, remove their junk, and clean up (including labor): about $300
4. There may be additional repair costs from letting the pipes freeze

The total payment I might seek would be around $4,000 or more, which may not be much for some but would be big for me. Of course, the $750 security deposit I collected will also factor in. I don’t know where the tenants (a couple) have gone & do not have much info about them. I do know, however, that at least one works so there may be potential there to garnish wages.

So, do you think it’s worth it? Have you dealt with this before? How do you do it? I plan to research this thoroughly myself, but wanted to hear from experience first. Thanks for your help.

Joseph