What to do whenTenant breaking contract and left in Houston-Texas

[Nate Paoinchantara]

All-One of my tenants in Houston broke the contract and left with some damages on the property. We tried to contact them a few time with no success. Now we did some repairs and get the new tenant in the property. I am wondering what routes/options I have to go after my previous tenant to recover some cost of repair and breaking contract. The total loss is about $4200. (Repair cost and cost of getting the new tenant) Thank you!

[John Chapman]

You can go and take the tenant to small claims court, but, unless he's got assets just hanging out there, it's kind of a waste of time.  You can't garnish wages here in Texas and there are a lot of protections for the types of assets you can collect on.  The only time I've heard of a judgment working out is when, years later, the tenant wants to buy a house or something and want to get the judgment off his record.