We had to evict a tenant. This is the first time we had to do this and we did make some mistakes from what I know so far.
She pulled smoke detectors that were wired in the house and took them. Took a brand new broiler pan from the oven. Trashed the carpet, put no less then 300 nails in a 900 sq ft duplex. Over 30 huge bags of trash we took out of there, along with a water bed, fishtank that smelled so bad we could not even walk in the house. Dumped food all over the refridgerator and freezer, so much food and crap that there are fruit flys all over the house and spiders, had to have the exterminator in there yesterday. Anyway, from what some others said if we would of called the police right away we could of had petty theft charges on her, and possibly vandelism. I do not think we could of gotten her rent in eviction court she owes 1 full month plus a week in to Sept, actually all of Sept b/c it is going to take us that long to make it habitable for the next tenant. From what I understand KY law does not allow this to be done in eviction court.
KY law says small claims is only $1500 so what I am wondering if anyone knows if I can file a suit for past due rent, then another one for damages to the unit. The rent she owes for 2 months is over $1600, and the damages are well over $2000 with the painter, and carpet etc... that does not even include our time cleaning. I hate to only be able to file 1 lawsuit for $1500. I know we can file in regular court for more however my problem with that is that it would cost us more for an attorney then I am sure we would ever collect. I thought maybe small claims if we were lucky we might actually get something. I want her to know she just can't do this and get away with it.
I know each state has different laws so I am looking for what KY allows. I can't find an attorney that will give me a free consult on this, and can not find anything online that gives me a clear answer.
thanks.

Maybe this place can help FreeAdvice Forums
Scroll down to REAL ESTATE LAW and click on Landlord / Tenant Issues . They have real lawyers that answer your questions pertaining to your specific state for free.

Didn't you have security deposit?

Does she even have the money to pay? You could win the suit, but if she doesn't have the money, so are going to be out the amount she owes you, the damages she caused, and lawyers fees. It might not be worth it.

yes I do have some security deposit, She did live there all of Aug and 1 week in sept before the the court evicted her. Laws protect tenants more then landlords. And with the damages and mess there is no way it will even be able to be rented until the 1st of Oct. So we are out 2 months rent plus damages far in excess of $2000. That isn't even including out time cleaning up the mess. We have spent over 40 hours just in cleaning. And have still about 3 to 4 more hours to finish.


thanks for the free advice forum. Looks like something we can use.

My daughter has a house in Mesa but lives here in St. Louis with us. She has had problems with several tenants over the years and finally got a lawyer who went after them all, one by one. The lawyer was sucessful in, I think, all of them. They had to pay his fees, court costs and the money owed my daughter. But laws are different everywhere and in some areas they very much favor the renter over the landlord.

I am wondering if your local real estate board might have a list of lawyers that do that type of business. Then you can find out what consulation fees each one charges. You might also check in with one of the bigger real estate firms and ask if any of the realtors handle rentals. Many do. Perhaps they can send you in the right direction toward picking a lawyer. With the amount of money you are talking about it is certainly worth a try.

Another thing to do in the future, if you don't already, is to run a background check. Around here, a pretty thorough check costs about $65 and is well worth the money. You can have the prospective tenants pay the money up front with their application and then deduct it if they end up renting from you from the first months rent. This means only serious lookers will apply and it weeds out a lot of less than desirable prospects before they ever waste much of your time. But here again, local mores may mean that this won't fly in your community.

I can only tell you what we have done in NJ. You can only charge for things that are beyond normal wear and tear. Take pictures, pictures and more pictures (actually put a newspaper with the date on it too to show that it was actually after she left). Also, in NJ you have 30 days to return the security deposits, and if you don't they can sue you for more than that back landlords don't have too many rights.
I always send the check back normal mail and a copy of the damages certified. I do this because one time a judge said nobody has to sign for certified mail and if I got the letter back he would agree that they received the regular mail. Sounds like it might be worth it to hire an attorney to go over your lease.
Good luck!

__________________
Sometimes the elevator often the shaft

Thanks for the info. All of the damages are way beyond normal wear and tear. She has only been in the unit since the middle of April. So it shoud not need new carpet, new smoke detetors that she stole, and painted. We actually just painted right before she moved in, from the last tenant. We built this duplex brand new. It is only 1 1/2 years old. So we are not talking an older unit.
Makes me just want to sell our properties and go to self storage units. So much easier.
thanks again.

We have a month to month contract here.Our landlord moved to another country.Anything that goes wrong he just tells us to fix it ourselves and to send the receipt to him and he'll take it off the rent.The problem with that is usually its something we can't afford.This house has a very very old heater and it won't start anymore.We don't have extra couple thousand bucks laying around to get a new one.And bf is afraid if we complain he'll raise the rent.I'll be raising HE double toothpicks if something isn't done.I don't understand why he wants to live in this old delapitated run down house when we could have something a lot nicer and for less money!