Back Rent and Unpaid Bills

[AngryLandlord]

I live in Florida, I had a verbal lease with my tennants, a couple who were my friends. They paid ontime for 4 months but they both got fired and didn't pay rent the last month so I had to evict them. I didn't mind them owing me rent for only 1 month ($600) but when I got the last water and power bills, they hadn't paid for two months (another $600). He did find another job but she hasn't, and basically he has told me that he isn't going to pay since we don't have a lease and I have no proof that he lived here. Some friend huh?

I was wondering if it is worth it to go to small claims court, he does "admit" that he owes me, but I'm sure he wont in court. I was wondering what evidence I could use, I have text message conversations and a few witnesses that were there when we made the verbal deal, but one is my uncle and the other is his old boss that fired him. But even if I get a favorable verdict, it says I am responsible for collecting? I can't even collect now, so how is going to small claims going to help that? I just don't want to lose another $3-400 in court costs if I don't have enough evidence or if I can't somehow get my money back.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[swalsh411]

It doesn't cost that much to file in small claims. Obviously your time is worth something so you would need to factor that in the decision as to whether it's worth it to you.

The Judges in small claims have a substantial amount of lattitude regarding what sort of evidence or testimony to accept. They will determine which party is more credible. Were the bills in their name? They won't be credible in claiming they didn't live there if the utility bills were in their name.

Do you think think these "friends" will purjure themself?

You may have another issue however and that is unlawful eviction. Did you follow the proper steps to evict them?

 

[AngryLandlord]

It doesn't cost that much to file in small claims. Obviously your time is worth something so you would need to factor that in the decision as to whether it's worth it to you.

The Judges in small claims have a substantial amount of lattitude regarding what sort of evidence or testimony to accept. They will determine which party is more credible. Were the bills in their name? They won't be credible in claiming they didn't live there if the utility bills were in their name.

Do you think think these "friends" will purjure themself?

You may have another issue however and that is unlawful eviction. Did you follow the proper steps to evict them?

The bills were still in my name, he was supposed to change the power into his name but never did and the water bill here has to stay in the owners name so I couldn't change that anyway. I do have somewhat of an admission, as in any idiot could determine they were renting from me, by looking at our text conversations. I do think they would try and change dates or the amount owed or something in their favor if it did go to court. As far as eviction goes, I served them the 3 day notice personaly, and they did move out without issue about 10 days later so I never had to file with the court there, we were still on good terms then so I didn't mind them taking their time. I didn't find out about the bills till after they moved out. The conversations about eviction are also in my text messages.

 

[Banned_Princess]

The bills were still in my name, he was supposed to change the power into his name but never did and the water bill here has to stay in the owners name so I couldn't change that anyway. I do have somewhat of an admission, as in any idiot could determine they were renting from me, by looking at our text conversations. I do think they would try and change dates or the amount owed or something in their favor if it did go to court. As far as eviction goes, I served them the 3 day notice personaly, and they did move out without issue about 10 days later so I never had to file with the court there, we were still on good terms then so I didn't mind them taking their time. I didn't find out about the bills till after they moved out. The conversations about eviction are also in my text messages.

did you accept checks? probably not. I suppose you didn't collect a security dep either.

your 3 day notice, and your texts are what you have. is this a property you use exclusive for tennants, or do you live there as well?
people don't usually take another person to court for rent and utilities if that person never rented from them, so some preponderance of evidence is already on your side. Its easy to show that someone owes you rent and utilities.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Preponderance+of+Evidence

you will run into the problem of collecting. yes you have to do that yourself, and unless they have jobs you know of or bank accounts you know of it may be close to impossible to get the money that was awarded to you. On the other hand the judgment is good for many years, so if they do happen to get jobs bank accounts and purchase a home you can still try to collect on those assets.