Help with evicting tennant

[Brandon Schlichter]

Hi all,

Here is my predicament:

I allowed a renter to live at an apartment complex I own, starting in June. She was OK for a few months, but in August, she decided to stop paying her rent, water, and utilities.

We advised her to vacate by the end of September to avoid any legal actions. She did not, so we filed the 3-day notice, which ended today.

She abandoned the property about 1 week into September, and had not been seen there since. By chance, we found out from other tenants/maintenance that she may have had animals in the property. We checked inside the property to find it in deplorable condition - it was drenched in fleas, had an atrocious odor of cat urine, cat feces, and so on. It was absolutely deplorable.

I guess my question is as follows:

She did not sign a lease agreement with us. It was verbal, but we have many E-mail messages concerning the terms of the agreement ($450/mo for rent and water, she was to pay electricity).

Is this enough to take her to court and sue for back-owed rent and utilities? Our maintenance guy has taken pictures and documented the deplorable condition of the apartment. We will also be documenting that these conditions are not shared with other apartments (such as the fleas).

What else can we do to deal with this situation? Since moving out, she has slandered us in an E-mail, accusing me of doing drugs, having the building out of code, and a litany of other things. I want to try to do everything right, because what she has done can't be overlooked.

Thanks!

[Steve Babiak]

Originally posted by Brandon Schlichter:

... I want to try to do everything right ...

The time for starting that is already past, as you must do this from day one (the day the tenant fills out an application).

I agree with NC Mark; you may not recover any money (after all, this is a tenant, with very few assets most likely) - but the judgment will follow on that person's record for all subsequent landlords to see (as long as they are willing to do the necessary screening to look).