Good morning,

The tenants moved out the end lease.

However, they also left a plenty damages to the house. Holes in the doors (six of them), the garage door is not opening...etc

Of course, I never know these selected tenants would turn to end like this way. It will take me long time to get it back to its original.

Yes, I took all photos before and after. They know, too. Especially the gurantor/the grandma who is witness.

Yes, their SD already used, (August rent, late fees and other charges.)

Can you share with me after my repairs and clean, do I go to the small claim court to ask them to pay? I know it is another battle altogether.

What would you do? Thanks

You will have to sue in small claims court, most likely. In my state, I have to get them personally served, which usually means hiring a special process server who can find them and convince them to answer the door. Then you go to court. You will present your evidence. If they show up and argue, they will present their evidence. If they fail to show up or they lose, the judge will award you a judgment for $X which you can then try to collect via whatever means are legal in your state: examples include wage garnishments, bank account or other asset seizure, trashing their credit report, and/or just pestering them endlessly.

Go after guarantor as well. The only downside is if her income is soley from pensions/retirement accounts or Social Security, you cannot garnishee her income or seize those kinds of assets. Those types of folks are "judgment" proof, and the only way to get them to pay is to trash their credit and/or threaten to put liens on other assets (homes, cars, etc).

For this reason, grandparents often are not good guarantors, unless you have the unusual scenario where they own real estate/other non-exempt assets.

could I charge my trip to the total bill when my trip is for fixing their mess they left behind? Do the law allow it?

Sorry, I dont plan to sell my house. I did not make the mistakes, I am just too nice to get rip off. Lesson learned.

First you would have needed to do an inspection during the last weeks of the tenants occupancy of your rental compiling as list, with costs, of expected tenant caused repairs. Giving the tenant a copy of what you are expecting them to cover, or take care of it prior to moving out. Example: Junk stored in the back yard, hauling and dump fee's, $250.

Then right after the tenant vacates and surrenders the keys you do a second inspection, again taking pictures and making your list.

At this point you should have written to the tenant, via email, texted message, fax or snail mail the amount you are seeking for their damage. You inquire if they are going to make single payment or so much per month--like $100.

Of course you will never hear back from your tenant but for the purposes of court proceedings, you kept them informed.

Then you fix up the rental and find new good tenants. With the work complete, you sent your x-tenants a demand letter, stating you having heard back from them before, and if they ignore you, then one option is to take them to small claims court.

Then you file suit and waste your time trying to collect. This is okay because your rental is now producing income.

"I did not make the mistakes, I am just too nice to get rip off. Lesson learned."

To minimize this situation happening again:

You can still be nice but still demand tenants pay to repair their damages as soon as they happen. This will require frequent inspections. That way the security deposit will not be overwhelmed by all the deductions for repairs necessary at move-out. This will train the tenants that their damages will cost them.