First duplex and I got the worst tenant

[Tia Maria]

Hello, I thank you all in advance for your responses. I am very new to all of this and I am here to learn. I bought my first duplex in 2017, I rented one side through a property management company here in Cape Coral Fl.  When the tenant first moved in I was told she could not afford the last months rent. She paid $1000 security deposit, The tenant in the unit is what I would classify as “difficult” and nothing much was done to remove her from the premises. She damaged my roof when she placed a boat in the backyard, she blast music until 4 a.m, she keeps trash all around her side of the building,  we are talking about-tires-broken dish washers-broken grills- and more. she painted the walls green without permission and left it like that. They did mechanic work and left the driveway with car oil, dog poop on the lanai. Whenever repairs needed to be done it was the most difficult thing to set up. I know that if the tenant is not available then property management needs to be available to let in the workers, that in itself was like pulling teeth. I kid you not

She received her notice to move after I made it clear to the property management company that I no longer wanted her there and that I would no longer need the property manager services.

Boom out of nowhere, she went out of the country for 2days in a work week and returned to see the apartment flooded, apparently a pipe broke in the bathroom, I think this was like three weeks before she was suppose to move.

Fast forward to October and she chose not to pay her rent and the property management started eviction because he said she told him she was not going to move, her move outdate was Oct 31, she did move October 28th.

She dropped the keys off and I am being told that no one can go into the property until the eviction process is complete. So there was no inspection after she moved out.

The contract ended with the property management when the lease ended, however for them to continue the eviction process it seems as if I would be paying a higher fee for them to do so.

What is the best thing to do, continue with the case in court and get a judgement and place it on her credit report, let it be thanks in advance for your time and patience, it is a long one.

She also left the place looking tore up from the floor up.