Tenant Abandoned property

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Jim7

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My tenant abandoned the town home they were renting from me. Their electricity had been turned off by the utility company and they did not pay their rent for September. They put me off with the rent payment by saying they would be late, in the meantime they were moving out of the town home. They left the town home with an infestation of fleas from a cat they had living in the town home with them. We had gone against our own rules by allowing them to have a cat for their little daughter. We had a rule against any pets but because we were trying to be nice we allowed the one cat in their family. They took all of their possessions so we do not need to evict them but we do want to pursue them in small claims court for the rent owed. We have been trying to rent the town home for the same amount as we were charging the delinquent tenants. No luck so far but we feel it will just be a matter of a couple of weeks to find a new tenant. In our county they have magistrate court to serve as small claims court. We know where the tenants that abandoned our town home work. We have contacted that employmennt and confirmed that they still work for them. It is the city of Marietta and they drive buses for the city schools. We do not have their address where they reside although we know it is in the same county. Can we serve them papers at their employment? We know when one of them begins their bus route to pick up school kids and we know where her bus is parked. Could the Sheriff serve them at the parking lot of the buses? We need some direction as to how to hold these tenants responsible for the contract rental agreement they signed which will not expire until December 31, 2008. Thank you for some directional help
 
When landlords cannot find where past tenants who owe them money now live, they will often see if they can be served at their place of employment.

Unless they are served, the lawsuit cannot move forward.

You need to call the Sheriff's/Marshall's office (double check who actually does the serving; in my county in Georgia it's the Marshall's who do this) to confirm that they would serve them in the parking lot where the buses they drive are kept.

If they won't you can consider hiring private servers who are sometimes more "inventive" (since you're paying them to do this) in serving defendants involved in lawsuits.

Gail
 
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