Can I Collect Past Rent Due From a Tenant After an Apartment Is Sold?

If you own a building and one of your tenants fails to pay rent, you can take legal action against her, including filing a lawsuit to evict the tenant for nonpayment of rent. However, if you sell the building before you get the money, you can no longer evict the tenant. She is still legally obligated to pay you past-due rent, but you will have to hire a collections agency, file a small-claims lawsuit or work something out with the tenant to get your money back.

Change in Role

Once you sell the building, you are no longer the tenant's landlord, but a creditor attempting to collect a debt. Thus, you may contact the tenant to collect it, as long as you don't harass him. However, since you do not own the building any longer, it may be more difficult to collect the rent, as you will no longer have the threat of evicting the tenant at your disposal. The only legitimate threats you can make are to report the tenant to tenant screening services for his non-payment, or to file a lawsuit against him in small-claims court. It is illegal to make threats that you are not empowered to carry out when collecting a debt, so be careful if you threaten to take action against a former tenant.

Check Lease

Check the lease with your former tenant to find out if you can demand collection costs. Many leases have a clause stating that if the tenant defaults on the rent, he must pay attorneys' fees and other collections costs in addition to the back rent he owes. If the lease has such a clause, you can include these costs if you choose to sue the tenant or take other collection activity against him.

Written Notice

Provide the tenant with written notice of how much rent she owes, and that you will sue if she does not pay it by a certain date. Give the tenant at least 15 to 30 days to pay the back rent before filing a lawsuit, as some tenants will be motivated to take action when confronted with possible legal action, and may need several days or a few weeks to come up with the money.

Collections Agency

If you do not feel comfortable attempting to collect the debt from the tenant on your own, you may wish to hire a collections agency to help you. Provide the collections agency with proof of the amount owed, and the tenant's name and last known address. You will have to pay for collections services, but you may be able to get this back by charging the tenant collections costs if the lease allows you to do so.

---

• Frequently Asked Questions About Properties Subsidized by HUD's ...

  portal.hud.gov HUD

  We get many questions from our partners in the subsidized multi-family business in HUD's multi-family offices in Ohio, so we developed this helpful guide.

• Kentucky Landlord Tenant Guide - Tenant Net - Tenants and

  tenant.net/Other_Areas/Kentucky/ltguide.html

  INTRODUCTION The purpose of this booklet is to provide information that will be useful to landlords and tenants in Kentucky. Much of this information is based on the ...

• Collecting Rent Rent Collection Ideas

  www.rentalsonline.com Resources

  Make the process of collecting rent easy by establishing a habit for your tenants to pay rent on time. Learn some tricks for making sure your tenants always pay the ...

• Texas Tenants Advisor - Tenant Net - Tenants and Renters

  www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Texas/txlihs/tenadvis.html

  The Texas Tenant Advisor is the hyper-linked tenant rights information resource of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service. It provides answers to many of ...

• How to Handle Late Rent Payments and Collect Late Rent Fees

  www.propertydo.com/late-rent-payment.html

  Are you struggling with late rent payments from tenants? Learn how to collect rent on time and what is the typical late rent fee to charge.

• Frequently Asked Questions of the Housing Court Department

  www.mass.gov Home Courts Trial Court Departments

  General Questions: What is a Housing Court? Is it just limited to landlord and tenant problems?

• California Tenants - California Department of Consumer Affairs

  dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/repairs.shtml

  Having Repairs Made. If a tenant believes that his or her rental unit needs repairs, and that the landlord is responsible for the repairs under the implied warranty ...

• Renting a Home - How To Information eHow

  www.ehow.com Personal Finance Real Estate

  Having a tenant who's behind on her rent payments is frustrating and worrying. If she doesn't pay, you might not be able to pay your own bills on time, or perhaps at all.

• Renter's Rights: A Simple Introduction Landlord-Tenant Law

  www.moneyunder30.com/renters-rights

  Wait, can my landlord REALLY do that? Maybe not. All states give renters rights. If you rent an apartment, understand the basics of landlord-tenant law.

• Landlords Should Know Bankruptcy Rights to Avoid Lost Rent

  www.ccim.com/cire-magazine/articles/landlords-should-know...

  Y our tenant files for bankruptcy should you give up hope of collecting any rent? No. Tenants are not allowed to occupy leased space without paying rent during ...

Related Posts

You're reading an article about Can I Collect Past Rent Due From a Tenant After an Apartment Is Sold? and you can find articles Can I Collect Past Rent Due From a Tenant After an Apartment Is Sold? this is url https://rentingahomes.blogspot.com/2013/10/can-i-collect-past-rent-due-from-tenant.html,you may spread or copy and paste it if the article Can I Collect Past Rent Due From a Tenant After an Apartment Is Sold? This is very beneficial to your friends, but do not forget to put the link Can I Collect Past Rent Due From a Tenant After an Apartment Is Sold? as the source.