I have always assumed the chances of collecting attorney fees from tenants were so unlikely that I was better off excluding attorney fees for both parties in the rental agreement. Either that or having a significant limitation (few hundred dollars) for both parties in the rental agreement.

Any thoughts???

Poker saying - if you are sitting at the table and you can't spot the sucker after 5 minutes, then you are the sucker.

LL saying - if you are the only one with any money, guess who will be paying the attorneys fees? Got a mirror? LOL

I'm on the East Coast, so my experience may be different from California landlords.

I've been fortunate in two different markets to find flat fee attorneys to handle filing for judgment against former tenants. My lease specifies that the tenant pay costs of collections for any outstanding debts, including attorney's fees. Interest also accrues with that. The tenants had money. They simply chose not to pay until there was a court case and/or judgment. From the comments I see here frequently, I had expected that collections would be difficult. Instead, both tenants rapidly paid the full amount owed. In NC, the judgment has a check box to indicate whether the judgment includes attorney's fees. Ensure that your attorney makes certain that this is claimed. I had an attorney forget this once.

The flat fee attorneys got the same results as the more expensive hourly attorneys. I had to call around a bit to see what the pricing was for the debt collection case. I did not ask for flat fee. That information just unfolded in the search. Those attorneys had developed some core efficiencies related to property management and collections that a few of the fancier, wordier, named attorneys did not have. I learned a lot from the search process. There are a lot of similarities in the process to selecting a tenant.

W (CA) brings up a good point about evictions. I will have to check my lease to see if it should say something different about paying attorneys fees for evictions, as opposed to specifying attorney's fees for debt collection. A cap on attorney's fees for evictions may be a good thing, since it may have the effect of minimizing a tenant's attorney fighting an eviction. It is food for though.

W, That was a good amendment. I'm assuming that the tenant was on a MTM lease at the time of the amendment. I am going to review my leases with that in mind.

Were the T attys from private practice or from some sort of legal aid or tenant group? In our local landlord group, I have heard of multiple lawyers being assigned from legal aid type groups, but have not heard of this from private attorneys. You are making me consider whether tenant's legal aid groups get paid from the landlord. Thanks for the info and heads up.