with the judgment, you don't have to pay extra to have it show up on the deadbeat's credit report. also, it is good for 20 years with a renewal... and I think it will stay on a credit report that long as well. you also have legal remedies as well, such as wage garnishments... and you substantially increase your chances of collection.

I'm thinking I'm going to start doing both.

nm

jcbrooks said:Trinimd1 said:germanpope said:seems kind of unfair if you are only reporting bad tenants to the credit bureau

shouldn't you also be reporting the good ones that are paying on time


Why should a landlord report a tenant to credit bureau for ontime payments?
That makes no sense.
I am not giving the tenant credit.
They are living in my property for a fee.

Last time I checked when you pay for a service/product that you want you don't get kudos.
Should I tell WalMart to report my 6.99 that I pay for beer every month as well?

Do you not check credit before renting to a tenant? Seems to me that there are credit implications even though you are not extending credit.The professional deadbeat tenants have the records sealed as part of their abusive defense in any UD lawsuit.

I'm sure someone who is abusing rentals would have no trouble thinking up some excuse for where he was for a period of time. Out of the country is one that comes to mind and would be a pain to check.

dcg9381 said:
Seriously? They'd still show a gap in rental history.
Me thinks that most deadbeats can't afford the legal defense required to get and keep those records sealed.
Deadbeats can claim to be living with a friend, and give the number of one of their deadbeat friends as a reference. Individual landlords are easily faked in a rental history.

Even then, honest renters have gaps in their rental history, so it isn't a criterion which necessarily screens the good from the bad.

However the judgment against this fellow, even for $1 is horribly detrimental to his credit. In short he will not ever (I believe that judgments don't "age off" as in my state a judgment is good for 25 years and renewable for another 25 years.)

Judgments definitely follow the rules and age off. I'm not sure why you think they'd be excepted.

in LA... you can hire any one of a number of scumbag abusive UD defense firms for about $400-600. they're very well-known here. essentially the deadbeats pay the months' rent to the attorney instead of the landlord... and the landlord hires some similarly priced UD firm and it becomes the battle of the loser attorneys.

green14 said:germanpope said:lovespam said:....in fact, since rent is a pre-payment, someone living in a rented property without paying is simply squatting, and should definitely be reported....

... if the rain just flooded my rental home, and you are getting sec 8 money that is coming from the state to pay your mortgage on my home, how is that squatting?

...

I guess we know why GP dislikes landlords. I think he/she was a familiar face who recently lost their rental in Tampa! http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/924724/?start=0? The thread you linked was started by blok, and GP lives in Hawaii...

Is germanpope the non-payment tenant this thread is about?

scotto777 said:

Given this post I feel like you are lying, or are trying to figure out what kind of trouble you are possibly facing by not paying rent.
It is more likely that his parents put him as an AU to help him qualify for an easy approval investor loan. These loans were handed out en masse to first time landlords during the boom years. Considering that the OP doesn't know how to handle a deadbeat, and that the lack of rent has broken his budget (likely already strained by overextended mortgage credit), I wouldn't be surprised if he was a first time landlord who took a loose loan during the boom.

I saw this cycle played out every day for the past few years.