Lease Expired Tenants left without paying cleaning and Damage

[sfhhfs]

Before they moved in, I only checked this guy's girlfriend's credit since he is working in outside of Edmonton and can not sign the application form. His girl friend's credit is excellent. One year later,when lease was up. They broke up and the girl moved out, the guy wanted to stay but said will pay the rent one week late. I know that's the tip of the iceberg, disagreed. Later he said he got borrowed money from this broke up girlfriend and paid. Since I was busy with my other job,don't want spend time to find new tenants and deal with the moving in moving out thing, I agreed, he paid on time for rent for this month and the security deposit still there anyway.
After few month paid rent on time he start to pay late,excuses were one after one, but every time just before the evication notice up to date,he paid.
Until last month,which is also the last month of the lease (for don't want the lease up in winter, I signed 6 month term lease). Thought still having the security deposit and so hard to get money from him (but he got a big hole on the wall and one piece of carpet on stairs was chewed by his dog),so I even asked to only pay few hundreds, at this time I knew he wouldn't pay,when I get to the house, he
has wine, alcohol and smoke on table,but said he has only 50 cents in his account so no money to pay.
But considered go through the court would take another week after the eviction notice date up(which is almost three weeks already), and the court will just send people to let him move out if they don't pay and do have no money in account,( Is My Understanding Right? Will They sell Tenant's Big TV or sth. to Cover the landlord's Lost ?) So decide not waste my time and energy, unsurprisingly,end of the month,when it's time to do move out condition checking he refused to do moving out condition checking and refused to sign and still kept saying they will get everything clean and all damages fixed!!! With most of their furniture and packing inside of the house and busy moving!!!
Left the place dirty and messy and the damages which he promised he and his father would fixe were still there. I have to offered the new tenants $200 first month rent deduction for the cleaning and left the dirty carpet unwashed.
Just saw other people's post and find I'm lucky! At least they moved! Realized I made a big mistake. if they don't move then I will be in bigger trouble
On the other post,like this situation,most people suggest just take the lost and let them go, and feel good get the house back!!
I have no problem to take the lose. My question is, is there anyway to let other landlord to be ware of him or tenants like this? Like can I report them to credit bureau? and how?
And report him to TVS, should I keep the proof for many years?like the cellphone message etc?

 

[Thomas Beyer]

There is no legal way to report him as a potential danger to other landlords.

You can claim damages and enforce them through small claims court, if you can serve him via a forwarding address. Even if you find or have his new address, often it is hard to collect though. Best to learn from this, and move on.

We will see more of this in Alberta as construction jobs get reduced or oil patch hires less. As such, tenant selection and impeccable property management is critical in this business.

 

[Sherilynn]

"the court will just send people to let him move out if they don't pay and do have no money in account"

No. The RTDRS (tenancy court) will order him to pay whatever is owed, and then it is up to you to collect.

Once you have a judgement, you can file for garnishment on his bank account (if you know the bank and branch). The branch will hold the garnishment order until there is enough in his account to cover most of the judgement. For instance, if the judgement is $1500 and his pay cheque is $1200, they may activate the garnishment order as soon as the pay cheque is deposited as this is likely your best hope at getting the most funds.

Garnishment of a bank account is the easiest method for collection. Always be sure to get the applicant's bank and branch listed on the application form.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

Garnishment of a bank account is the easiest method for collection. Always be sure to get the applicant's bank and branch listed on the application form.

What's the cost to garnishee ? Over what $ figure do you do that typically ? $1000 ? $2000 ? $200 ?

What if they just vacate, but leave a mess behind, skipped on the last rent and the damage exceeds the security deposit ? You go to smalls claims court ?

 

[Matt Crowley]

I don't want to pour salt in the wound here, but you should really manage your property a lot closer or hire someone else to do so.

If you have any thought that you may have an abusive tenant or a tenant who sees themselves as "professional tenants", you need to show them that you are willing to go to court with any problem. The first time one of the tenants pays late, you go to RTDRS and file an eviction notice. (Don't change them for a late fee on the RTDRS filing)! Keep all your paperwork and show them how serious you are about getting paid.

This situation escalated due to absentee management. You have to be much more hands on.

 

[Sherilynn]

What's the cost to garnishee ? Over what $ figure do you do that typically ? $1000 ? $2000 ? $200 ?

What if they just vacate, but leave a mess behind, skipped on the last rent and the damage exceeds the security deposit ? You go to smalls claims court ?

The last time I went through a bank it cost me a $25 fee.
Of course, if a tenant is living paycheque to paycheque, you may only be able to seize $2000. (The bank looks at the account history and determines the highest average balance before deciding to act on the order.) So the key is to act quickly against the tenant before they owe much.
The other reason to act quickly (as in the day after rent is due), is to be sure you file against them before they skip. When you get the order for payment of rent, you can file a garnishment order. You also have the opportunity to keep the security deposit. So if you manage to get $1500 from the bank account plus you keep the deposit, you are usually pretty well covered (if you have filed promptly rather than waiting till the bills pile up).
Sometimes the costs aren't all covered because the bank account is too low, but the biggest bad debt write-off I have had is about $800. I'm okay with that.