All Forum Posts by: Jack Tou

The only not-so-terrible thing about this inherited lease is that it does at least contains some language for "Default". 

The lease was inherited and the tenant didn't even have any security deposit (It's a shortcoming we accepted when we purchased the property). That being said, it sounds like the small claim court may not do us any good given the fact there was no deposit we can keep, and recovering back rent + associated damages/fees would be challenging? 

On the other hand, I can see Sam Shueh's point about the legal fees may end up just eating up any money that I can recovered. 

Based on all the invaluable advice so far, maybe I should first hired an lawyer to arrange the eviction and get it into the court system like Robert had suggested. Hopefully keeping the legal fees manageable such as fixed fees kind of deal? 

Thereafter, I will then hire collection agency to help recover the rent, late charges, and legal fees. Is my assumption correct that the agent will charge certain percentage of the recovered fees? Meaning it shouldn't exceed my total recovered amount like hiring a lawyer would? What's a reasonable commission percentage in the industry? 

Thanks Roy, 

First of all thanks for your advice. "Business was bad" has been a constant excuse from this tenant since day one and we've tried to work with him like offering re-payment plan but he never follows thru. Given the available options, it does sounds sensible to consult with an attorney first rather then hiring an collection agent. 

My mom used to be an residential realtor for awhile before she retired so we've been able to get by with managing our joined residential investment without too much drama. Therefore we dont have a attorney already.

May I ask where will be a good starting point for me to find ourselves an local attorney? Rather then random Google search, is there a good online resource for researching/finding good attorney? 

Thx a million

Hi all, new to the community here and thanks in advance for any advice.

My family got into commercial real estate 2 years ago with a small retail shop. The existing tenant has been a real PITA. We've tried to work with him but to this point he has accumulated 3 months of overdue rent (including late charges). The first 5 years’ lease term is coming up in June and he just missed this month’s rent again so I have had enough of this.

My question is if I hired an attorney to evict him right away I am afraid I cannot collect the missing rent:

1.A family friend told us from his experience that it will be difficult if not impossible to collect debt after the tenant was evicted.

2.The overdue rent exceeded the Small Court limit ($5,000???), not to mention the late charges and legal fees.

3.I am currently overseas on work assignment and difficult to attend to any court hearing or handling matters in person.

Is it advisable to first hired Collection Agency in attempt to recover the rent? Is not like I will be able to find an replacement tenant right away and meanwhile the current tenant is liable to pay rent under the lease agreement.