Suing A Tenant for unpaid rent

[Javier Perez]

Hi all,

Hope everyone is holding up well. I have a question. Not something I necessarily plan on doing. But came to mind and was curious what others thought.

Alot of states as we know have "no eviction" during this whole Covid situation. 

As a landlord myself, I have been very lenient and working with tenants. Thankfully I'm lucky to have no leverage on my properties. 

With that said. I know some tenants are taking advantage of the situation. 

So to my thought. Even though we can't "evict" a tenant. Can we sue them for breach of contract? I know some situations this would not make sense and be more trouble than it's worth. But legally, can a landlord sue the tenant even though they can't evict the tenant?

just a thought. What do you guys think?

[John Teachout]

After they leave the property (one way or the other) you can sue for damages and unpaid rent (plus legal fees such as court costs) and get a judgement against them. This may go unpaid for a long time but sometimes when people decide to get their financial life in order, they'll pay it off so it doesn't keep getting dragged along behind them. I think most landlords just turn the file over to a collection agency and maybe someday get a few shekels in the mail.