If my former tenants have stopped following the payment schedule we agreed to in mediation, what options do I have?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If my former tenants have stopped following the payment schedule we agreed to in mediation, what options do I have?
My former tenants stopped paying their rent and I was forced to evict them. I took them to court and in court, they agree to mediation. At the mediation meeting, a schedule of payments was worked out. They have since split up as a couple and have stopped paying me. I have contact information on only one of them but she refused to call me back. What do I need to do to collect on this debt?
Asked on August 14, 2011 Hawaii
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If there was an agreement for payment to be made pursuant to a certain schedule, that agreement is enforceable. If they have stopped paying per the agreement, there are three things you could do:
1) You may go to landlord-tenant court and evict them for breach of the agrement and non-payment of rent;
2) After they are evicted, you may take unpaid rent out of their security deposit (you can only do this when their tenancy is termianted or over);
3) You can sue them--including in small claims court, where you can represent yourself and do not need an attorney--for the money they owe you; if you only know where one of them is, you may sue her for the whole amount (then let her try to cover the money from her former boyfriend/fiance/husband/etc.)
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.