Runaway tenant

dlk

I suppose it had to happen eventually as its the first problem I've ever had with any of my tenants over the past 6 years.

He's left without paying his rent. Does anyone have experience of retrieving money owed in these circumstances. If so how do you go about it?

Once I knock his deposit off what he owes, it will only be £350 so its not a disaster and may not even be worth chasing. Does anyone have any advice as it would be much appreciated.

PasturesNew

It's not just that, if he's done a runner in the middle of an AST contract then you might not be able to gain control back of the property.

How do you know he's done a runner?
Was it the end of his AST?

knightstyle

Forget chasing him through the courts to get your money back, you will pay and pay and get nothing back!!!
Change the locks put his stuff in bags and keep for 6 months, and let again. He certainly will not be back and if he does you have been reasonable.

Jowo_2

Abandonment

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal/abandonment.htm

Was his deposit required to be protected in a tenancy deposit scheme and if so, did you lodge it there? Did you have a proper tenancy application form that lists his NI number, date of birth and so on?

Have a look at landlordzone - there are companies that will trace a tenant for a small fee so you can serve papers to take them to the small claims court. Even when a tenant tries to avoid being detected by not going on the electoral register, I believe that these tracing companies can get hold of where they are having their bank and mobile phone bills sent to so I assume they do this a month or so after they've left when they've had a chance to notify the suppliers.

daveypoos

knightstyle wrote: »

Forget chasing him through the courts to get your money back, you will pay and pay and get nothing back!!!
Change the locks put his stuff in bags and keep for 6 months, and let again. He certainly will not be back and if he does you have been reasonable.

You have lost £350 at the moment, please take qualified legal advice before you do anything.

I once had a boss who had let his house out after moving in with a girlfriend. A credit card was delivered for my boss, the tenant used it to run up a huge debt (this was nearly 20 years ago so easier to do then).

My boss changed the locks and threw the thief out. The thief was able to sue my boss whilst he was in prison, and even got legal aid to do it!

So check your next move is legal.