Landlord Question and Answer Forum

We were renting our house in Charleston, SC to a lady for a year. She didn't pay rent to us for 3 of the last 4 months. We wrote a notice and she finally left the house August 1st. We would like to collect the rent she still owes us. What can we do? Where and how can we file against her? We would sincerely appreciate any help on this matter. Our finances are suffering considerably under this time of crisis. Thank you very much.

I am not a Lawyer, but seeing your post would seem you need to send the Tenant a Certified Letter with return reciept requested. Send it to her last known address, stating the fact that she has an Outstanding Balance of $XXX (what ever her Rent add'ed up to when she skiped out owing you.) A good time of say (14) days to Pay in Full or you will file suit to collect all monies due you and up to all attorney fee's and court cost .) Should she fail to pick up the letter or it's returned to you then simply wait the (14) days as stated in the letter and then go to a local Justic of the Pease and ask to file a Small Claims Suit. Fill out all the paper work and include the letter you sent her (Un-Opened) When making the letter to her, make sure you make copies to submit to the court in the event she gets the leter and fail to respond. And by all mean NEVER accept Partial Payment(s) as some courts will not allow you to file suit if you are accepting payments from her. Hope this help out.

Posted by Billy G, TX on Tuesday, August 18, 2009