All Forum Posts by: Shane Rawlings

We are in the process of renting out a unit and have been getting a lot of calls about holding the place until the mid-end of the month... Obviously I want it rented asap, but is there a safe and reasonable way to hold and protect myself from loss? ie... non refundable deposit if they decide not to move in or something to that effect... They will likely not want to pay the full rental price a month before they move in.

I would still do the application process and checks , the only differences would be not meeting them in person and there would have to be something to make holding for them work in my favor as well.

Any thoughts about how to make this work or if I should avoid it all togeather? This is my first unit and I am learning a lot from this forum. Please keep the advice coming.

After hanging out for a while and doing a lot of reading on BP, this is not what my first post was planned out to be. Unfortunatly my ex-tenant has made that decision for me...

So... I rented out my duplex (my first rental property that I happen to live on the other side of) in mid January, and the tenant asked to split up the deposit, half on the 1st of Feb, half on the 1st of Mar. They moved in in the middle of Jan and paid through until the end of the month. Well they informed me yesterday that they moved out while my wife was at work, (I am in Afghanistan) they had lost their jobs, and would not be paying rent nor the deposit due for Feb...

What are my legal options? They are completely moved out and will not tell me their new address.

They signed a 1 year lease.

They gave my wife permission to enter and she said there is not any damage that she noticed.

Should I try to rerent the place out or do I have to leave it for a while since I did not get the keys back or a written notice?

I have their license plate number and some other details. My wife did not make copies of their DLs or get their socials...

I am not sure what my options are. I am in Texas if that matters.

Can we sue them for the rent and deposit that they owe? What about the costs of serving them papers and the court itself?

Also, since this is also a matter of principle to me now, can we add the costs of time spent advertising, getting the locks changed again, cleaning, and whatever else is an inconvienience since we bent over backwards to help them to be able to move in... (Which will not happen again)

All in all this was a good learning experiance but Id still obviously like to get what is owed to me...

Thanks for your time.
Shane