How may days late fee to add after tenant move-out?

Question

I have (had) this tenant who didn't pay, then I sent a 5-day notice, he moved out even before he got the notice. No damage, everything good so far.
Considering going to court, but may be a dead-beat. I don't even know where to find him right now to serve.

In any case, the lease states a daily late fee until rent is paid in full. How many days should I calculate?

1. Days until he actually moved out (which would still need to be established... he says, she says)
2. Days until I learned he vacated?
3. Days until the apartment is re-rented (he left just in the second month of an 11-months-and-some-change lease)
4. Days until the I send the statement re. sec. deposit deductions (within 21 days)

My gut feel says number two is the way to go without leaning too much out the window.

Joel Owens · Answer

From my experience it is easy to get a judgement.It is very hard and time consuming to collect. Therefore especially on any tenant that is questionable you have to get a large security deposit to compensate.If you don't you will be sorry later. For judgements you can try the bill collector route but it almost never works,you can try an attorney but that doesn't work,you can do it yourself,or hire a judgement collector company. You have to make sure the past tenant is not "judgement proof" and will just file bankruptcy or has nothing to lose to begin with.After years you might collect some of the money. The best thing to do is either hire it off to a "judgement collection company" where they pay for court costs and collection split what they collect 50/50 with you which can take years OR you can sell the judgement to them for maybe 15 to 20 cents on the dollar and they pay you today. The judgement has to be for a certain size and they will research the debtor to see if they are judgement proof before offering the cash upfront.

Uwe K. · Answer

At the risk that my response is perceived negatively I do have to reply to you: That is quite some profiling: So from one question I am asking - where, by the way, you don't even know the real background and my intent for asking - you can tell that there is not much experience and virtually label me as some idiot novice. Whereas nothing is wrong with being a a novice, everybody starts out at some point in any field (which basically implies being the idiot with beginner's mistakes). I am sure you didn't get your vast and overwhelming experience you portray to be having with the breast milk... It's like me assuming you have no proper command of the English language since the idiom you are applying would technically be considered an improper use. Besides that rant: Yes, I do praise the heavens; he left, with no damage and the place clean. And the new tenant is already in.

Uwe K. · Answer

Well, I didn't think you guys would beat me up like that for a question :-) To answer some of the questions: Didn't pay for eviction, because tenant had left before. Not in jail etc., actually talked to him on the phone and got some info from other people. Took him in because he qualified, and he say he just doesn't want to live there anymore. There appears to also be a slight (or starting) mental disorder in play, I suspect. There is a point in a tenant's life where they turn sour. That does not necessarily have anything to do with how I run my shop or select my tenants or what level of experience I have or what kind of knife I use to butter my bread. The "taking to court" would only apply if he takes certain action as discovered through the grapevine. And I just want to be prepared, hence my concern about using the correct date "just in case", which I still have no opinion on. I wasn't aware that courts often throw out late fees, considering they are right there agreed upon in the legal contract, aka lease. Looking back, I realize I've never had this come up. But that's some good input. Place is already re-rented, new tenant moved in Sunday. State law says tenant is responsible for the lease, landlord has to take action to re-rent. However, tenant is also responsible for damages (e.g. new rental ads). I have no particular "break fee", as I think this would be thrown out here from a point beyond actual damages. All the other requirements,such as sec. dep. statement, I am quite familiar with state law and have never gotten into trouble with that.

Ryan M. · Answer

I always have late fees on money judgements and they always get thrown out in court. Judgements are a crap shoot anyway most of the time I just go for possession. Spend your time moving forward not chasing the past.

Steve Babiak · Answer

The real take-away from this is: Why did you take in such a tenant who only stayed less than 2 months out of nearly a 1 year lease? This is the problem you should be looking to correct as you move ahead. Keeping the moved-out tenant's money won't solve that matter.

Ken Latchers · Answer

I am quite surprised you are so intent on such a small item, which tells me there is not much experience of the realities of being a landlord. This is what Penny rich and Pound foolish means. He left. Praise the heavens and get another tenant.

Steve Babiak · Answer

Are you sure he moved out, and isn't in jail or the hospital somewhere? Are furniture and belongings still in there?

Jeff S. · Answer

Do you have a penalty for breaking the lease? If you have a security deposit you could hold it for breaking the lease probably good for a months rent. Late fees will most likely be thrown out of court. Don't give a reason for some legal aid attorney to fight it. Try to get it rented as fast as you can and charge him for lost days in rent, up to a month. Make sure you send him an itemization of the deposit but wait until it is rented, if rented within security deposit return time. In my area we have a month so only having 21 days is tricky. You need advice on that. Do you have some kind of housing council with a hotline. This stuff is area specific so look for an organization like that. Many times it will be the same outfit that sells rental forms. Check with the local REIA.

Joel Owens · Answer

So you served a five day notice but did not pay for eviction yet?? If the tenant has vacated and left no belongings but trash.Then take pictures and immediately change all locks. Are the utilities still on or off?? If there appears to be personal property still left then you need to check with your states personal property disposal laws.In some cases you only have to evict if there appears to be over a certain amount of property.In Georgia it is over 500 dollars. Unless you evict the tenant and file and the tenant is personally served or doesn't file an answer for court notice then a judge can't grant you a judgement. In most jurisdictions since the tenant left you would have to take them to small claims court and if you won get a judgement but collecting is another story. I would just be happy they left and call it a day.I have found judges just throw out the later per day penalties anyways. I would move on and focus on re-renting the unit. My experience is based on Georgia so your state might be different.