Tenant moved out on good terms a couple of months ago and moved out of state. We have no forwarding address, just a local contact of his for sending SecDep statement. He ended up owing a bit over $100 over his SecDep amount. Do we try to collect (he’s somewhere in Tennessee or Oklahoma we think) & get a judgment against him or just let it go. Filing in Small Claims is a minimum of $30. If any future landlord does a credit check, will his owing money show up on any kind of screening if we get a judgment against him, or how does that work exactly?

You can try a low cost skip trace service like clearskip (dot) com. I am with the others though in that spending too much time and money chasing after $100 is going to cost you more in lost opportunity.

You can try handing over his debt to a collection agency, but I doubt they'd be interested in such a small account, and most of them will charge you 30-50% of the amount collected. Probably not worth it.

"Tenant moved out on good terms a couple of months ago and moved out of state....He ended up owing a bit over $100 over his SecDep amount. "

Anytime I see this, I have to ask, "What do you consider 'good terms'"?

I consider 'good terms' when a tenant leaves no damages, no cleaning, and all rent is paid up. Anything less is marginal to bad terms. In other words, 'good terms' tenants are getting their full security deposit returned, not owing me money.

One part of me wants the world to know that the tenant left with money owed.

The other part of me says that chasing this money halfway across the country isn't worth the headache.

If he left on decent terms send him the accounting statement (which you should have already done) and see if he pays.

You are out a couple stamps and a little time.

This is precisely why I advocate getting an account set up with a collection agency that is willing to work on balances owed to landlords by former tenants. Then, even when a small one like this comes along, you don't hesitate to turn it over to the agency. There is a collection agency available through this very Mr. Landlord site. Click above top right to see the video available about it.

You do not need a judgement to turn over a balance to a collection agency. Think of all the collection accounts you see on credit reports from stores and medical offices for example. They didn't get judgements...they just had overdue accounts they finally turned over for collection.

My best selling book, Build Real Estate Wealth: Enjoy the Journey of Rental Property Investment, discusses this thoroughly. My collection account (as it would show up on an applicant's credit report) is called "Landlord Joel Miller" so all landlords looking at the report in the future can spot that there's a collection account on there from a past landlord. They may even recognize my name and give me a call for a past landlord reference even though I wasn't listed on the application.

Grams,

If he still owes $100 I assume that means he left you with unpaid rent or damages eating up the entire deposit PLUS the $100?

Needing to use his deposit is not a good resident.

I'm with zero. I feel a responsibility to warn future LLs that this guy was not a good resident. For only $30 I would file but probably not pursue, just get it on record.

You can also report his debt on his credit report thru a service on this site. I would report the total, then list how much he paid by way of deposit.

Send a bill for the $100. Mine says "To avoid court, court costs, and attorney fees, please pay this bill within 10 days thru Venmo @BRAD20,000." 99% pay.

BRAD