Using Social Media To Locate Deadbeat Tenants

[Bearto]

Most of us have probably heard about the story down in Penticton where a local store owner was recently broken into by a couple of kids and but due to the local detachment being unable to determine who the kids were, he has resorted to social media to "out" the perpetrators.

I'm wondering what the legalities of doing the same thing for deadbeat tenants are as landlords our hands are tied even tighter because of the "ACT". The local police force know the where abouts of the individuals involved in most of these supposed "legal" crimes but do not get involved or provide any information to help Landlords track down these people so as to recoup some of their loses.

Anybody have any insight on this type of approach that they can share?

[Ken7]

There is actually a web site where landlords can report deadbeat tenants. I'm sorry I can't pass on the link.

I think it's a great idea!

http://www.tenancybureau.com/ca.php?Country=Canada

[Queen K]

There is a social media site called Landlords Helping Landlords somewhere on the net.

Tried it yet?

And yes, three different neighbours have had terrible experiences with deadbeat tenants, to the breaking point in one case. What is going on out there?

What is so difficult with "we need the rent on time because the BANK doesn't wait for the mortgage money."

[flamingfingers]

I've found a lot of help from this website - both as a landlord and as a tenant:

http://www.apartmentguide.ca/Renters/te ... lities.asp

Mind, it is how to keep you out of trouble before you get into it, but a lot of after-the-fact help too.

[Captain Awesome]

...but do not get involved or provide any information to help Landlords track down these people so as to recoup some of their loses.

Anybody have any insight on this type of approach that they can share?

In most cases locating somebody using social media or otherwise isn't a problem. Say, you found the guy. Then what?

The people who owe you money in rent can simply ignore you. You can't do anything about it. You can't repossess their stuff since it can only be done once you sue them. You can sue them too, but with lengthy processes god knows how long it will take you to close. And most importantly, people who pull midnight moves don't have any money chronically, so why bother getting a judgment against them. And if you hope to confront them and talk them into paying the money back, there's a huge risk of escalating the situation to the point when you become a bad guy.

Basically, unless you use methods borrowed from Sopranos to get people who owe you money to pay it back - and I doubt you are since people think they can get away with not paying you - locating somebody might not be a good use of your time.

[Captain Awesome]

There is actually a web site where landlords can report deadbeat tenants. I'm sorry I can't pass on the link.

http://www.oklandlordsociety.com/

[goose]

This makes me mad. I have been looking for a house, mobile, (or something not attached to anybody else) for 8 months! I have a 18lb Bichon dog who is unbelievably well behaved, and goes to daycare every day I work and also goes to visit my parents when I go out anywhere. I have two outside cats that are great hunters and take care of any mice, moles, and spiders too. I smoke outside only, always have, and I have a great job. I have excellent references, love doing yard work, and have and old school mentality of "respect". I have owned my own home before, on a third of an acre, and thanks to some unfortunate happenings in my life, I sold last year. I hear the deadbeat renter stories all the time, I have no idea how these people find a place to rent to begin with, let alone keep finding them after they have destroyed peoples homes and lives. I am all for social media letting landlords know if they are making the right choice to rent to whoever, I think it would help.

[Xia33]

It would also be nice for good renters with pets to be acknowledged. While I understand if a landlord has had issues previously why they would be not likely to repeat it....but there are those of us that do take care of a place and take full responsibility for any issues with our pets...and will put it in writing and pay a deposit. We normally leave a place in better condition than we found it...so there are good tenants with pets out there.
Whomever said it was more dogs than cats...we didn't get one place because we had a cat....3 dogs, 3 horses and a parrot....but couldn't have a cat. Lol

[1669]

I have successfully collected money from several deadbeat tenants through the courts. They seemed shocked when they discovered I had garnished their paychecks, as they just assumed they would get away with damaging my property, bouncing cheques, and committing fraud. I especially enjoyed collecting from the ones who told my elderly managers to f off and said "what are you gonna do about it". The problem is that many of them do get away with it bc many landlords dont pursue these deadbeats.

The riskiest people to rent to are those on welfare, as welfare cannot be garnished, and these people know it. They may tell you the rent will be paid directly to the landlord and is therefore guaranteed. But they also know they can stop having the landlord paid direct just with a simple phone call. Then welfare redirects the rent payments directly to the tenant, who then won't pay, as that is why they redirected the rent to themselves. They know it will take months for the Sherriff/Bailiff to remove them and in the meantime they can spend the rent money from welfare. In 33 years as a landlord, every single welfare tenant I have rented to has caused danage and lost rent $. No more, never again.

Dogs may wreck a lawn, but grass grows back. The worst pets are c ats. Cat urine cannot be removed from flooring. Cost me thousands to replace all of the flooring in one of my rentals. Many people let their cats run wild to crap all over their neighbors yards, wreck paint on cars, etc, which causes them to complain to the landlord. I now rent to people with dogs but not cats.

[Bearto]

What I've got is a couple of individuals who shared my basement suite. While not going through all the details or issues of it they left without living a fowarding address and unless I can find where they live I cannot even serve them the RTB papers to get them to a hearing. I know where one of the beats works at and know that one of the others supposedly moved back in with his mom but the other is on welfare.

What burns me even more about this is afterwards I started thinking a bit about a couple of these kids a I remember distinctly helping their mother out a few years back in Lake Country when their house burned down and they had no insurance. Karma eh??

I know they use facebook, how would one get these names out to help find them if you only have a small social circle here?

[1669]

The tenants who share a living unit are jointly and severally liable for damages and unpaid rent. This means you can go after just one or all of them for the entire amount owing. If you know where they work, serve then the papers there. Once they are being garnished, they will usually give you the addresses of the other tenants, otherwise they will have the entire amount garnished from their paychecks alone.

However, once you are successfully collecting from one of the deadbeats, you may decide to just collect from just them rather than have to file and serve papers against the others. I often advise the person being garnished, that they themselves demand that the others pay voluntarily. Most often they are still in contact, and will pay up under pressure from their friend.

[fluid power]

The tenants who share a living unit are jointly and severally liable for damages and unpaid rent. This means you can go after just one or all of them for the entire amount owing. If you know where they work, serve then the papers there. Once they are being garnished, they will usually give you the addresses of the other tenants, otherwise they will have the entire amount garnished from their paychecks alone.

However, once you are successfully collecting from one of the deadbeats, you may decide to just collect from just them rather than have to file and serve papers against the others. I often advise the person being garnished, that they themselves demand that the others pay voluntarily. Most often they are still in contact, and will pay up under pressure from their friend.

I like it :)
Good Advice. You sound well-versed in this matter.

[Tero]

Most of us have probably heard about the story down in Penticton where a local store owner was recently broken into by a couple of kids and but due to the local detachment being unable to determine who the kids were, he has resorted to social media to "out" the perpetrators.

I'm wondering what the legalities of doing the same thing for deadbeat tenants are as landlords our hands are tied even tighter because of the "ACT". The local police force know the where abouts of the individuals involved in most of these supposed "legal" crimes but do not get involved or provide any information to help Landlords track down these people so as to recoup some of their loses.

Anybody have any insight on this type of approach that they can share?

Within 48 hours those kids were found, btw. I love the use of social media. I hope they have to pay him every single cent of damages!!

[1669]

Anything publicly posted on Facebook has been released to the public and can be used to track down deadbeat tenants without fear of any illegalities.

The best thing a landlord can do is to thoroughkly screen all prospective tenants before renting to them. The application should include addresses of employment, relatives, previous addresses, bank account # and address, driver's licence #, SIN #, etc etc. If they refuse to complete the application in full, they should be rejected. Good tenants understand the screening process is meant to weed out bad tenants, and anyone who refuses is hiding something and should be rejected.

You should also search both the criminal and civil court registeries for convictions and judgements.

NEVER give a reason for rejecting an application. " I have decided to rent to someone else" is all that should be said.

It is much better to leave a unit empty, than it is to rent to a bad tenant that will do nothing but cause the landlord and neighbors problems.

[1669]

RTA judgements are enforceable only through the courts. Go to the inquiry desk at the courthouse and tell them you want to collect on an RTA judgement by way of garnishment. You can garnish paychecks and bank accounts. They are usually very helpfull if they are not too busy and will often walk you through the process and how to complete the documents step by step. Avoid going on Mondays and Fridays.

You will have to pay filing fees, but these are added on to and collected with the garnishment, and will be returned to you.

When you serve the garnishing order on the employer, make sure you bring a witness.

If the employer fails to remit the funds to the court, they become themselves personally responsible for paying you, so they have no choice but to deduct the money from the paycheck. The funds are paid directly to the court and you must apply to the court to have the $ released to you. Most employers hate garnishment orders and the extra paper work, and will often pressure the employee to just pay up, so they don't have to deal with the court order.

Once you complete the process one time, it becomes routine and easy to do.

The best thing you can do is use a comprehensive application form and process to weed out bad tenants before they get in the door. Hope this helps!