Real Estate Agent · Dallas, TX · Member since 2017 · 136 posts · 141 votes
Anybody here have any success stories retrieving money owed from previous tenants? 
One of my ex tenants left the house a mess, owes me a couple months of rent and a fee for breaking the lease early. We set up a repayment plan, but as of last week he begun ghosting me. I get sent straight to voicemail.
I’m leaning towards using a commission based collection agency. That or a straight gangsta..
Sorry. You're in Texas. No wage garnishment here. Collections are near impossible, especially when tenants are broke (which is the most likely scenario with your tenant). You can waste time and energy pursuing in court but chances are not good of collecting. Just take the lesson learned and move on.
@Steven Lowe I believe it. My dad and a couple of uncles went through hell with their rental properties during the last recession.
Texas is great for evicting, just not for retrieving your money
No state is great for retrieving your money. Cut your L's and move on. You won't see a dime of the money you're entitled to. You stated your age in an earlier post and I have to say..Listen to the older folks on the site, They have much more experience than you and I. Also, stop going all "oK BoOmEr" on the people trying to help.
@Dylan Mejo I grandly appreciate anyone who took the time to give their 2 cents, including you and him. This forum alone tripled my understanding of what to expect ahead. I had never used the phrase ok boomer, and figured it’d be humorous first try since he called me a juvenile. I’m clearly not 10-18 and he’s clearly not 55-75.
Working through a situation right now. It takes months to get through the process. And that’s to start collecting.
Eviction, Sheriff serve papers, get a judgment, file for garnishment. Each step requires fees and time. It’s
not actually very difficult here, and I’ve done it all online. It just takes patience.
I am currently awaiting the Sheriff to serve her employer and bank the garnishment notice. The courts have already awarded judgment and approved the garnishment. Then, if she stays employed, the money will start to trickle in.
Still better, and worth the time, than letting a tenant just walk away for free.
All-in-all, I’ve spent less time on this than I spend per week on BP.
@Ivan Loza I'm dealing with the same situation with two tenants we evicted this week. Both of my attorneys and several colleagues have said that it is nearly impossible to recoup any monies owed(approximately 11k in our case). Chalk it up to experience and write it off as losses.
@Ivan Loza He broke the lease because he couldn’t pay rent. Left the house a mess because moving is hard and his deposit was gone. Ghosting you because even after losing his deposit you are coming after him for a huge sum contractually owed and apparently non-negotiable. Maybe next time act promptly so you do not allow a tenant to get behind 2 months, offer an incentive to have the property left in reasonable shape and maybe negotiate a parting agreement that both can live with...where are you thinking someone without rent money is going to come up with 2 months back rent much less the penalty fee and cost to hire professional cleaners? Keeping the deposit and having him sign an acknowledgment of the full money owed and a negotiated settlement amount (maybe shoot for missed rent minus deposit and split the cleaning fee?) seems like it might succeed. State that the agreement is null and void should he miss a payment and you retain the right to pursue a judgement for the full amount should he not meet his end of the agreement. Going for everything owed per the contract feels like winner take all to someone in financial straits....they respond in kind, by making you lose in entitreity.
@Ivan Loza, "It worked! #1 on trending plus plenty DMs." Yep, I'm going stick with my opinion that "going gangsta" along with the title of this thread is rather juvenile. Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe I've been doing this too long. I don't understand making statements like that. If you wanted honest advice about how to proceed under these circumstances, you got it in the first few responses. (The solution is pretty basic) I'm not sure what stoking this thread continues to accomplish. You seem like a nice guy but there are a number of statements you've made that are flat wrong and are based on inexperience. You seem very upset about how you've been treated by this tenant, which I totally understand. What I'm suggesting is that you rise above those feelings and treat it like a business. Feel free to DM if you'd like.
I think it's about not being a victim. At least, that's how I look at it. I do not tolerate bullies. And yes, tenants who don't abide by their promises are in a way bullying their landlord. Or call it conning. But, in the adult world there are consequences for not following through on your contract obligations.
Calling it going gangsta is a way to put humor into an expensive, bad experience, and taking the mindset that I'm not going to be a victim.
But, at any rate, it's not any landlord's responsibility to provide free housing, if that's not what they signed up for. There's nothing mean about expecting someone to honor their contract. You'd expect your contractors to do so, right? Your partners? The tenant's car lender is sure not going to say, awww, sorry you're having a hard time, just keep the car for free.
A contract between two grown-ups requires both sides to honor their commitments and if they don't, there should be grown-up consequences. That's just fair.
And, it's about warning our colleagues in order to help others in the business avoid having the same thing done to them by the same tenant. I think that's also morally correct.