Evicted Tenants stole fridge has this happened to anyone?

Question

I took possession of my house at 4pm today. Had a court ordered eviction. I furnished the fridge and stove, the fridge was gone!

Criminal or civil matter?

Has anyone have any experienced this before?

Brian Beadle · Answer

Found him!

I'm with @Ron Orr on this one. I understand it the principal of it, but how much will this cost once the legal action is complete.  Unless this is a SubZero or some other similarly opulent glorified beer chiller, it's probably more headache than its worth.  But I feel your pain @Julie Thevenow !

Julie Thevenow · Answer

Update:

I did call the police, officer said that I would need to sue them.

I talked to a process server/skip tracer that I use. He's a police officer in a larger city and said it's a criminal matter and he could talk to the prosecutor for me, but he would need their new address that I didn't have.

So, I hired him to find them. I had previously talked to the next door neighbor and she told me the city that they had moved to. It was right across the river. Less than 18 hours later he had their new phone number and address. He had called them and they did have my refrigerator. They next day he went and got it for me. He said the tenant was scared to death!

This cost me $70.00

I'm hoping that when we go to the damage hearing on August 16 and I win judgment, the tenant will realize I mean business and will make arrangements to make restitution. So far I'm up to $2,500 in back rent and damages.

Matthew Olszak · Answer

@Brian Beadle Looks just like the guy that was driving this car:

@Julie Thevenow To answer your question more seriously, I have not had a fridge walk out. I've had lightbulbs, custom cut blinds, and a hanging microwave disappear though, and on each of those cases I had a security deposit to deduct from. If you can hold your own in court, I'd call the police to see if they'll let you file a report and also file suit. It'll likely be a default judgement that can sit on the tenant's record so you can get paid if they ever win the lotto. But I wouldn't expect to collect.

Jason Hirko · Answer

@Julie Thevenow I had this happen on one of my Section 8 houses. PM called their HUD contact and the tenant lost their voucher. No more Gov't subsidized housing for them over a fridge that was probably crappy to begin with. Crime doesn't pay!

Gail K. · Answer

During one of our evictions the tenants stole two new rugs we had placed in the bedrooms.  They also left the place a disaster including setting a bathroom ceiling fan on fire.   I did take out a criminal warrant against the female as she was the one with the steadier employment.  In my area it was inexpensive to do so ($10 for filing) and some minimal running around from the law enforcement office to the clerk of court for filing.

Took two years but I finally was notified she had been arrested on this outstanding warrant.  We eventually went to court and I was asked what I wanted.  I still had the receipts for the rug.  What I really wanted was her address so I could file against her for the $5K damage she had done to my house.  What I got (over time and in dribs and drabs) was the cost of these rugs and, of course, the judgment on her record.

Gail

Dale T. · Answer

In cases where the ex-tenants have steady cash flow (ie a job) and you have their forwarding address, I have filed small claims case won a judgment and was able to garnish their wages and eventually get paid back.   If you don't have the background to do this, I suggest writing it off as an expensive education.

Bettina F. · Answer

Take pictures of the serial number/ model number of your appliances  with your move in photos, also put the serial number on the move-in checklist that the incoming tenant signs.

Austin Hendrickson · Answer

Haha that is getting creative! Love it. A lot of investors say just let the tenants walk it is not worth the time but if everyone did that then every tenant would not care because there are no consequences. Well done. @Julie Thevenow

Nolan M. · Answer

You can file a police report, but depending on the how your local jurisdiction works it might be difficult for the PD to file charges unless there is proof of who did it.

Mary B. · Answer

A landlord I know had that happen...almost. he was in the neighborhood during their moving date and stopped by while they were hauling it out, lol. had me in stitches when he told me. they tried to say it was there's. yea like someone is gonna forget they DIDN'T own a particular appliance.

Kudos,

Mary

Evicted Tenants stole fridge has this happened to anyone?

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