Thats terrible! I'm sorry for your friend. I don't know about other states, but in NSW, if a tenant is 2 weeks behind in rent you can send them an eviction letter giving them 2 weeks to leave, this would limit the loss to a 4 week period. It's unfortunate that this person abused the system for their personal satisfaction, I believe that taking this kind of thing would be not worth pursuing. However, NSW hhas made the process easier, I think you can represent yourself and take the matter to the small claims court. Also, had someone done this to me and I figured it was worth chasing, I'd have taken legal advice, which may have been able to subpoena records to see if there had been a history of "suicide" attempts. Again, this would be high cost. IMO, Id cut my losses with the eviction and start again.
- nailing home your point of finding a good tenant!
