Doing after lost rent/damages

[Brian Anderson]

I had a tenant stop paying rent in January. I had them evicted, but CA froze all evictions the week before the lock out was supposed to take place. I finally was able to get the tenant out after 5 months of not paying rent. The house was a total mess as well so we are getting it back to a livable state for the next renters.

Is it worth it to go after the previous tenant for the lost rent and small claims court for the damages? I have had some people say it’s not worth it and it will just cost me more money and time, but on the flip side I don’t want to just let this person get away with this and make sure it’s on their credit so it doesn’t happen again.

[Ujwal Velagapudi]

I had nearly $5k in unpaid rent, damages, etc. from a tenant that I just said it wasn't worth my time/money to try and recoup it. I was just glad he vacated, and since it was commercial retail, happy that the next tenant was needing to do a remodel anyways which allowed me to not go out of pocket on some repairs. 

I would be curious to hear from folks that have gone after their tenants and how much they were actually able to recoup.