Landlord experts?

[riderinthestorm]

21. Oh man, that totally sucks. FWIW, I had a family do that much destruction

but it was their son who had the rage disorder. Even the stove top was smashed - it looked like the kid took a baseball bat to it with extreme violence. 12 years old but fairly large and just radiated seething rage....

Honestly, getting an attorney is probably the best recourse. You can try to file a police report on the damage so you have pre-empted this guy. Did he call the ASPCA about the abandoned dog? I really hope so.

Sooner or later though, your husband is going to probably have a confrontation with the guy. Make sure he has a strong friend with him because you may end up calling the police if the guy gets physical and it will help having someone else there.

I wouldn't worry one minute about the neighbors reporting that your husband threw stuff out. From the damage, its obvious that there would be broken stuff getting thrown out at the minimum - that would be normal and obvious to anyone. But in my experience, there's virtually always a ton of garbage that needs to be thrown out when a renter leaves - that's also normal. I've had them leave entertainment units, beds, sofas - amazing stuff that I've put out on a curb with a free sign. These guys obviously never paid the rent and they abandoned the place and the dresser. You need to look into the landlord laws for your state immediately about how those issues are handled.

Again though, as for the dresser, still the main object of concern I presume, I would get a cheap replacement - $10 off craigslist. Make sure he knows to come pick up HIS dresser by a certain date and do all this in writing, registered mail.