Rent stopped being paid

Lapchien

I rented a flat to a friend of a friend, and on that basis did not offer a contract of any sort, I just collected the rent each month by standing order. The guy moved out a few months ago, and when I finally checked my account I see that he stopped paying 3 months earlier.

Given that there was no official rental agreement or contacts signed, do I have any options to get the money back (other than asking for it, which has drawn a blank). Can I start proceedings, and without a contact are they likely to fail - or do I just take the hit?

Thanks

SG

Cissi

I would think that with no paper trail and no proof, you'll have to take the hit and consider yourself to have had a lucky escape as things could easily have been worse (if he had trashed the place, refused to move out etc).

ALIBOBSY

Depends what supporting evidence you have, even an email or text saying the date he was moving out plus the bank statements showing the SO's to you could be enough to take it to court. Remember the judge will weigh up the evidence and come down on the balance of probabilities, but you could be opening a can of worms if the "friend" decided to report you say to a mortgage lender who didn't know about renting out, tax office and other oficial bodies-did you have all the correct paperwork in place to rent out?

Could get messy.

ali x

rl290

OP, not sure about specific answers to your question, but let this be a lesson to all of us to check our accounts regularly (I check online). If just one payment is late, I would be straight on the phone to the tenant. Also a lesson that, even with friends, a contract can be useful. In this case, if the taxman can knocking about the deductions you have made on a rented property (and I assume you are paying tax on this income) then a contract would be a helpful starting point of a paper trail.

R

G_M

You've had a lucky escape. At least this non-paying tenant left!

As suggested above, before even considering any formal action, can you confidently confirm you have no skelatons to hide:
* you mortgage lender gave permission
* the inland revenue know (income tax and capital gains tax)
* you had gas certificates for the period in question
* you complied with all other legal requirements

Having said that, yes, you could start proceedings. There was a contract, even if it was verbal not written: you provided a property and received rent in return. You bank will be able to confirm receipts from him on a monthly basis (till they stopped) providing evidence. You may have other supporting evidence of the contract (emails? texts? witnesses?).

So you could claim for the missing rent, and on-going rent as no notice was served on you to end the tenancy.

But is it worth it?

GarySt_2

Maybe its not worth claiming but perhaps if he thinks you are going to he may come to an agreement. Tell him (in writing) you are going to file a claim in the small claims court. As G_M says you have a contract even if its only verbal. Bluff often works.
Good luck

princeofpounds

You have a contract and evidence of regular rental payment is enough (although any proof of occupation is useful). By paying rent an AST contract was automatically set up under the law with standard terms and a rental amount as determined by the pattern of payment.

You will be able to to initiate a small claims action and have a reasonable chance if you can prove his date of entry and of departure. However, you must be careful to avoid a counterclaim, so your legal obligations must have been fulfilled (gas certificate, deposit protection, EPC etc. if applicable).

You will also have to work a little bit harder to establish the timeline, actions and intentions.