My tenant may be skipping town.

[Libo L.]

Hi, fellow landlords.

What options do I have if I sense my tenants are skipping town for "a good job" in another state without paying the current month's rent and with several more months left on the lease? 

I though I did the right things at the time of lease-signing, including credit and background check, and collecting deposit. 

How can I file claims to credit bureau and the popular rental sites such as Cozy and Zillow so my tenants' future job and tenancy prospect may be affected?  That might be enough to deter my tenants from skipping town if I could convincingly say to them that their prospects could be affected. 

Thanks,

Libo

[Ned J.]

Not to be harsh, but as soon as you started to offer discounts and concessions to them, you were screwed.....they already figured out you are a weak landlord and they can walk all over you....sorry.... you set a bad precedent.

Now they may have stopped paying rent and bailed anyway, but with your previous behavior, they smelled blood in the water and knew you were ripe to get bitten even more.

Best you can do is start the paperwork for failure to pay, eviction and follow the law....recover the property and move on.

Its always a dilemma about  going after the $$ they will owe you....huge hassle and you will never see the $$....but you let them off the hook with no record for the next landlord to find out about..... So its up to you if the work and hassle is worth it to get it on their record when you will never see a dime to do the work..... personal choice.