All Forum Posts by: Kinju Dudhia

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

If you cannot get anything from them their is one person who ALWAYS gets his take and that is Uncle Sam. So you could 1099 then for unpaid rent and then they would have to pay tax on it.

Of course you don’t get anything but they don’t walk away completely free

Great idea!

Quote from @Kinju Dudhia:

I own a property and the renters left the property with a garage full of junk, and furniture in the apartment and turned off the heat. They are behind 2 months of their rent and we do not have a forwarding address. What are my options at this point to recover the loss of rent, damages to the property, and removal of the junk?

I often find hints to their address as I remove their mail from the mailbox in the coming week or two.   Skippers rarely have their mail properly forwarded.

But I fear you're missing the big picture most important thing - you are rid of a deadbeat and got your property back!

Expend indigestion trying to make a deadbeat pay if you want to, just don't forget to be grateful they are gone.  

Do you have a way to contact them?  Email, phone number?  Leave them a message that you want it in writing that they have moved and abandoned any remaining items.

Aloha,

No legal advice here, and VERY dependent on local law, but...based on the limited info you provided, I would check several items:

Did they turn off the utilities, or has the utility company turned them off due to non-payment? What does the apartment actually look like...did they just walk out one morning with coffee cups on the kitchen table, clothes in the closet, multiple pairs of shoes, medicine cabinet looking normal, perhaps with toothbrushes still in place? or, is the place trashed, with very little of true value, drawers mostly emptied or dumped out, clothes, meds, family photos, personal care items all gone? Was the door left standing open, unlocked, or properly secured? Is mail accumulating, or did the USPS get forwarding instructions? Were any keys left on a counter or hanging on a keeper in the entryway that are for the unit? Does the refer appear to have recent groceries, mostly empty, or all rotted? Some people just live like animals...do you have an idea of what it looked like, in terms of their personal property, 3 months ago?

Based on answers to above, if I truly believe it is abandoned, I would document findings with lots of photos, and, after reaching out to employer, family, and references from their application and any other sources, I would shovel it out and move forward if no one was forthcoming with info or contacting the people. Again, no legal advice, but with experience you might follow your gut, being aware of the risk.

Did you send/post proper notices and try to contact them when they first missed rent payment?

@Kinju Dudhia

Chances of recovery slim to none

How were they paying you? If you have bank account info you could sue get a judgment and try and garnish wages

If you cannot get anything from them their is one person who ALWAYS gets his take and that is Uncle Sam. So you could 1099 then for unpaid rent and then they would have to pay tax on it.

Of course you don’t get anything but they don’t walk away completely free

@Kinju Dudhia well, count yourself lucky in one respect: they left and with what seems like minimal damage. Having them stay and dig in would have been much worse. 

This is a good opportunity to brush up on your State laws concerning abandonment. 

Here in Florida, there are three ways a landlord can obtain possession of a rental unit:

1. Surrender - The tenant moves out willingly, with some kind of positive handoff (i.e. they turn in their keys and/or otherwise communicate their intentions to you)

2. Eviction - Each state has its own procedures for processing eviction suits. 

3. Abandonment - Likewise, each state has its own definition of abandonment, and what the landlord can do in such a case. (And there can be significant liability involved if you get it wrong - You don't want the tenant coming back and saying they were just on vacation and you disposed of $100k worth of their precious family heirlooms...it happens!) 

Disposal of their property without proper proof of abandonment or surrender is essentially civil theft and can come with the appropriate penalties, up to and including jail time. I know a handyman who was charged with burglary and grand theft because they were sent by the landlord to clean out a unit that wasn't legally abandoned and the tenant later pressed charges.

The following video (no affiliation) relates to Florida, but it's worth watching no matter where you are and it highlights what you need to learn and understand about abandonment the jurisdiction where your rental is located: http://www.evicttv.com/episode...

Hopefully you have a security deposit you can retain to offset some of the unpaid rent and turnover costs. Beyond that, pursuing collections is often a waste of time and resources.