Can I put a lien on someone for back rent and misc payments when they don't own anything? What's this lien?

Question

We own the house that the renter is staying in but he has not paid the rent or utilities since he signed the rental contract. He doesn't own anything that I'm a where of and he can't hold down a job. We are going to give him an eviction notice. He only owes a few hundred dollars but I wasn't sure what the better option would be. Take him to small claims court or put a lien on him if that is even possible.

Answer 1

You can only place a lien on possessions owned by this tenant. Since he apparently has no possessions, there is nothing upon which you can attach such a lien. Your option is eviction and small claims court to obtain a legal judgment against him for monies owed. Whether or not you can collect the judgment is entirely another issue. You can only hope that he eventually gets a job, at which point you can attempt to garnish his wages.

Good luck !

Answer 2

The small claims would be better, the way a lien works is when the person sells something of high value you put a lien on that so when they sell it the money they owe you gets taken out of the money they make on whatever it is before they even get to see the money.

Say they sell a house, the bank you actually call you first and give you the lien money and then give them the rest.

If they rent then unless they sell their car it wouldn't work very well.

Answer 3

Begin eviction and then take him to small claims court. Make sure to report him to a rental reporting company so that if he tries to rent again and the landlord does a rental check the next landlord is aware that he has failed to pay rent in the past.

To place a lein he must own something because the lein is against something he owns.

Answer 4

evict him & then take him to small claims, this will effect his credit for 6yrs even if he pays you or not. He will have a judgement against him and will be severely hampered in getting credit in the future