Tenant Abandoned Apartment

[Nnena O.]

I bought my first duplex in Pittsburgh last July.  Tenants were already in place.  Downstairs tenant was almost always late, but eventually paid the rent and late fee.  I am an out-of-town landlord--my brother, who lives in Pittsburgh, handles some things if I need an in-person visit to the property.

Anyway, in March I didn't get the rent and the tenant did not reply to my inquiries.  Because she had always come through with the rent, I figured she was just late.  In addition, I didn't have the bandwidth at the time to be proactive.  Towards the end of April I asked the upstairs tenant, and she said that she had not seen the downstairs tenant for a while and didn't think she lived there anymore.  I asked my brother to check it out and when he got there, the apartment was totally empty--but clean (especially for someone who had lived there for 6 years)!  I have still not heard from her despite numerous letters and phone calls.

My question is whether I have any chance of recouping March, April, and May rent (I am hoping to get the apartment rented by the 15th of this month)?  The lease from the previous landlord had expired and I did not resign the lease when I took over, so she was a tenant at will.  Anybody out there familiar with Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh law?

I know I made a lot of mistakes with this and have learned quite a bit in the process.  But I would like to find a way to recoup the three months rent that I lost because I didn't know that she had left.

Thanks for your comments.

[Jaysen Medhurst]

Hi @Nnena O., you may not like this: you're not going to see the money for March, April, May. You didn't have a lease with this tenant, so your legal standing is already not as strong as it could be.

Heck, you'd probably spend more money tracking this person down, serving papers, etc.

Write it off and spend your energy getting a new, great tenant in place (with a strong lease) ASAP.

The cost of education...