Old Tenant Owes me money

[damian8urias]

Hi,

My former tenant moved out after I requested him to catch up on past due rent. I ended up serving him with an eviction notice to ensure I met all my requirements prior to him moving out.

He still owed me a large sum of money so I would call and email him to try to come up with a plan to get it repaid to me. He continually ignored me, of course. So I wrote his former fiance, who was also on the lease, to try and get some of the past due. She has made payments to get this resolved but he has asked me not to call him or email him.

THE QUESTION: He said that I am now classified as a creditor and since he has asked me not to contact him for the fact that I am a creditor and that he will sue me if I do, is this possible?

V/R

Damian

 

[mightymoose]

As a creditor you have a very legitimate reason for contacting him and he won't get far with his complaint. Your attempts to collect sound quite reasonable.
do not call him 50 times per day and don't bother him at his work place and he will never have a good argument to bring against you. Periodic contact by phone, mail, email, or in person are perfectly legal regardless of his request for you to stop. If he wants you to stop he can either pay the debt in full or get a judge to order you to stop... which won't likely happen so long as you aren't being threatening.

In short- keep doing what you are doing. If you stop he is less likely to pay. There is nothing illegal about what you are doing... assuming there isn't more to the story than what you have provided here.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Your former tenants logic is, well, screwy. I'm sure every person who owes money to someone else would like to avoid being contacted to pay what they owe but that's not likely to happen.

However, it sounds as if the former fiance is the one who is the most reliable on getting this debt paid. If she continues to make payments to take care of this debt, remain on good terms with her. She can (if she wishes) sue him for what she's paid off.

Gail

 

[damian8urias]

I just want to thank you guys for your replies. It is pretty much as I suspected but I didn't want to put my family into any further litigation. I hope you guys have a great day.