text: can a landlord get any of his lost rent back from scheming, lazy low-lifes? my dad has 2 rental properties that he is constantly having to redo or fix up, because he's too nice and lets these bumbs move in. in most cases they have kids, or give him some hard luck story, but in the end, the just trash the house and beat him out of hundreds, maybe thousands of $$. he's a christian man, and doesn't believe in suing people, but c'mon. enough is enough, and he is getting older. i just hate to see kind people being taken advantage of. yes. he can sue them for rent in arrears and get a judgement filed agst them. if they want these staken off the public record, they will have to settlem them to get them released by the lienholder