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tenant vandalism

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sigs27

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? pa

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Our tenants recently abandoned the home they had rented from us. We were away for a weekend and came home to find they have moved out without any notification and when we entered the home we were very shocked to find the house in complete disarray.

There are holes everywhere, and by holes I mean very large holes, there is bleach all over the downstairs carpet, all of our blinds were taken, all of closet doors are missing, the upstairs carpets are completely destroyed, they had cut holes in the carpet to disguise stains (not very smart), our refrigerator is all dented, our bathroom floor is all caved in and the list goes on and on--

We are estimating that there is around 5000.00 worth the damage. We cannot find them anywhere. We had planned to take them to small claims court but to be quite honest the money will never be collected since we cannot locate them.

Would this type of damage be covered under homeowners insurance? Are we required to have a seperate policy for just the rental side? We contacted our insurance company who said we have vandalism in our policy but since it happened on the tenant side we cannot claim it.

I dont understand this, it is vandalism to our home. We pay a substantial amount of money for what we thought was a good homeowners insurance policy only to find out and I quote my agent "its a chance you take as a landlord"

Can someone please give me some advise as to what I should do or what type of policy I actually need to protect myself from this should it ever happen again.
 


Jessica2010

Junior Member
They can be found. After winning in small claims court, hire a bill collector. Or wait 6 months to a year and type their first and last name and state in to google, usually the address will show up. There are also other sites (that you pay for) that will show a phone number/address of a person. Even if they don't work and only get mail at the residence it will show up.

Did you get references before renting to them? If so call them back and ask them if they know where they are.... you think you owe them money. If the tenants think they have money coming to them, I bet you get a phone call.
 

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