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Updated about 2 months ago, 10/21/2024
Evicted Tenant - owes me money
My rental property is in Los Angeles county. I hired a lawyer to get her evicted. She didn't pay rent the last 3 months, plus I paid all the lawyer fees.
do I hire a debt collection service to follow them until I get my money back? Is it worth it?
It’s probably not worth it.
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
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Quote from @Diran Deukmajian:
Yes, you should send them to collections.
Andre is correct that you may not get anything back. However, there's always a chance.
The best part is that the debt will be reported to the credit reporting agencies and it will stay on the tenant's credit report for up to seven years. That will prevent them from qualifying for other rentals, a personal loan, or a home loan.
I have sent nearly 60 tenants to collections. A few of them came back years later and paid everything they owed because my claim was preventing them from qualifying for a home loan.
- Nathan Gesner
@Nathan Gesner
Can a landlord report a tenant to collections on their own?...or do they need to use a company? What is the average cost of reporting to collections?
Quote from @Diran Deukmajian:
My rental property is in Los Angeles county. I hired a lawyer to get her evicted. She didn't pay rent the last 3 months, plus I paid all the lawyer fees.
do I hire a debt collection service to follow them until I get my money back? Is it worth it?
you need a judgment first, so first you would need to file a lawsuit to get the judgment then the collection agency will take 1/3 - 1/2 of it. so in reality its not really worth it.
- Chris Seveney
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
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Quote from @CJ M.:
I don't know the answer. The landlord may need a judgment. The OP said the tenant was evicted through court, so I assume they have a judgment and can turn that over to collections.
@Chris Seveney says it's not worth it, but I disagree:
1. 60% of $1,000 is better than 0% of $1,000.
2. Even if you get nothing, you at least get the satisfaction of knowing it will hurt their credit and may prevent them from scamming another landlord or qualifying for a loan.
- Nathan Gesner
@Nathan Gesner
Correct, sorry I was asking for my own knowledge and not necessarily the OP's. Also, asking under the assumption the Second Cause/Writ was signed off on from the court. In those instances, what is the next step you usually take for filing with collections?
#3 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Real Estate Broker
- Cape Coral, FL
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#3 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Real Estate Broker
- Cape Coral, FL
We put tenants into collections without a judgement or involving an attorney. It cost $0. Maybe its different where you are but I have never heard of needing a judgement to put someone in collections.
- Adam Bartomeo
- [email protected]
- 239-339-3969
Quote from @Diran Deukmajian:
My rental property is in Los Angeles county. I hired a lawyer to get her evicted. She didn't pay rent the last 3 months, plus I paid all the lawyer fees.
do I hire a debt collection service to follow them until I get my money back? Is it worth it?
What did your property manager do when the tenant didn't pay the first month's rent?
Of course yes I agree this is a business for goodness sake not a charity debt seeking organization in the first place.
If you are evicting a person, they have more issues than rent payment. The court will issue a judgement and that is a form of collection and can allow you to place lien on anything valuable they have.
#1 Legal & Legislation Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
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#1 Legal & Legislation Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
There are two distinctly different collection strategies you can pursue:
1) Collections Company: there are several that ALL they do is pester the debtor for payment with calls, texts, emails, letters, etc.
2) Collections Attorneys: they will get a money judgment for balance owed and then pursue garnishment as necessary - including garnishing any state tax refund (if the state allows).
Both will take a percentage of what they collect.
- Drew Sygit
- [email protected]
- 248-209-6824
Quote from @Brandon Carlson:
Quote from @Diran Deukmajian:
My rental property is in Los Angeles county. I hired a lawyer to get her evicted. She didn't pay rent the last 3 months, plus I paid all the lawyer fees.
do I hire a debt collection service to follow them until I get my money back? Is it worth it?
What did your property manager do when the tenant didn't pay the first month's rent?
I don't have a property manager. This is my first rental property that I invested in. I can handle the 1 property myself.
Quote from @Adam Bartomeo:
We put tenants into collections without a judgement or involving an attorney. It cost $0. Maybe its different where you are but I have never heard of needing a judgement to put someone in collections.
Yes, i CA, it's a lot harder to get stuff done. Legal system here only helps the wrong side!