Renter stiffed me - next steps?

[Melissa Silk]

I have a small condo that I short-term rent in the summer months. This is my first winter as the owner, so I decided to try and get someone in during the off season. Being only 20 minutes from Portland, ME and Maine Medical Center, I was able to find a traveling CNA. He signed a lease for Nov 1 - Feb 4. He paid first months rent ($1650), and a security deposit of $1000, and moved in November 1st. Fast forward to November 30th, I get a text at 4am saying he had a family emergency and was going back to TX. I texted him to remind him of the rent due Dec 1st, and have heard nothing. What would you do? Is it worth it to try to collect? Or should I just let it go?

[Jon Martin]

If they are out of the house I would count my blessings and move on. Could be worse, and it sounds like you are within your rights to pocket the security deposit. 

Wouldn't hurt to attempt to collect, even if it's just to establish fault on paper in case they try to come back at you. Realistically it sounds like a lot of time and bandwidth would be devoted to a low likelihood of being made whole.