Thread: Tenants Owe 10K in Rent and Won't Pay!

You will have to deal with the courts, even to get a lien. I would talk to an attorney.

To obtain a lien: First you will have to go to court to get a judgment against them. Then if they don't pay the judgment you can pursue an order of enforcement. That is where a lien come in. If they have property you can obtain a lien against their property. However, if they have other debt secured by that property your lien will generally be junior to the secured interest if it is perfected prior to your lien.

What about a collection agency? Generally speaking, you will probably need a judgment for an agency to be able to pursue this as well, a small claims judgment is all that is needed.

In other words, you need to go to the court system to seek remedy and even that is not a guarantee.


You may be able to sell the outstanding obligation at a discount. Honestly I haven't talked to anyone who has done that but would be interested in the process.

Knowing your options before you make a move is good, may be worth at least looking into.

One more comment, the most common default judgments delivered by the court system are creditors' suits over an unpaid debt, mostly consumer debt.

I wouldn't count on getting the money back anytime soon. If they are tenants than I assume they don't own any real estate, but if they did, then getting a judgment attached to their home would be the best option, because then you can get paid when they sell the house. Otherwise, it's just an unsecured debt and good luck collecting on it.

I would hire a "debt collector" that does not use conventional methods. If you know what I mean....

EVERBODY MUST PAY! one way or another.

if they didn't have money to pay you then, more than likely they won't have funds to pay you later even in you are able to get judgement against them. I would cut your loses and move on and be sure and start the eviction process much earlier next time and include strict due on clauses in your rental agreements, contact attorney for best options.

you can always take case to judge mathis, judy, or other and try and collect, but still unlikely that tenant will ever pay. they are probably doing same thing to next landlord as we speak, infact some use this practice to get from place to place. we had up to 150 rental properties at one point and were doing at least 2-3 evictions/week during some months. Ultimatley, we usually had to call constable and physically remove them from the property and set there stuff on the curb.

Originally Posted by REbuyersgroup

I would hire a "debt collector" that does not use conventional methods. If you know what I mean....

EVERBODY MUST PAY! one way or another.

I course I do not condone this type of behavior. However, I must say that when I was reading the initial post I was thinking the exact same thing myself. Who hasn't thought that before, really?

Brass knuckles are optional, but strongly recommended!!!

Michael .

I found that when a tenant moved out or got evicted from one of my properties they virtually disappear. Ten thousand is enough motivation for a tenant with nothing to stay hidden. Even if you have a social security number they are still hard to find in any kind of lawsuit. Most of these tenants go through jobs just like they go through residences. With cash jobs and living with others all the usual ways that you find someone does not work. I agree Dallas Broker that they are probably doing this to another landlord. They will take you as long as they can with excuses and promises to pay and just leave when they absolutely have to go. Unfortunately this happens all the time and the tenants have a way of keeping it going. With the ease of looking at court records online I have been able to identify a lot of problem tenants with past evictions before they even get a chance to rent from me. But it still happens to me and everyone else.