Former Tenant with a large damage debt

[Katie Jewell]

Hi all, 

I'm looking for the best way to handle the following. We had a tenant who claimed to have 4 kids, and then ended up moving in 2 more kids and the father. The fighting ensued, and they did over $10,000 worth of damage. (yes, I've already done a look at how to tighten up our tenant recruitment). I kept careful receipts, the repairs are all done. A nice new tenant is in place. The old tenant has received her damages letter subtracting the security deposit. This was all done legally and with consultation of a lawyer. I'm not looking for advice or comments on any of that. Thanks.

She received her letter yesterday and contacted me with the following. "Hello there. I don’t have 10k to pay you. I’m a single mother of 6 children and I just was discharged from the hospital due to COVID and I currently have 2 kids with COVID. I can pay you $100 a month."

What would you do in response to that. On the one hand she seems to be saying it's a lost cause, but then on the other hand she is not fighting me about the actual notice and by saying she can pay $100/month she is accepting her responsibility for this.  

What would you respond with? If we accept this $100 month we are looking at dealing with her for over 100 months and basically extending her a 0% loan for years and years.

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Katie Jewell:

Hi all, 

I'm looking for the best way to handle the following. We had a tenant who claimed to have 4 kids, and then ended up moving in 2 more kids and the father. The fighting ensued, and they did over $10,000 worth of damage. (yes, I've already done a look at how to tighten up our tenant recruitment). I kept careful receipts, the repairs are all done. A nice new tenant is in place. The old tenant has received her damages letter subtracting the security deposit. This was all done legally and with consultation of a lawyer. I'm not looking for advice or comments on any of that. Thanks.

She received her letter yesterday and contacted me with the following. "Hello there. I don’t have 10k to pay you. I’m a single mother of 6 children and I just was discharged from the hospital due to COVID and I currently have 2 kids with COVID. I can pay you $100 a month."

What would you do in response to that. On the one hand she seems to be saying it's a lost cause, but then on the other hand she is not fighting me about the actual notice and by saying she can pay $100/month she is accepting her responsibility for this.  

What would you respond with? If we accept this $100 month we are looking at dealing with her for over 100 months and basically extending her a 0% loan for years and years.

 The reality of the situation is this person sounds dirt poor. Dirt poor folks are judgement proof. I'd probably accept the $100/mo and keep accepting it till she stops paying it. And trust me, she's going to stop paying it. When she does you're probably better off moving on. If you like, you can throw another couple grand at the situation and sue her but throwing a couple grand for a very low chance of collecting $10k one day is a bad bet. This is just the nature of the beast when renting houses to poor people.