Council Tenant

cococoladebt

Property is fine. I have the keys handed back and the tenancy is therefore ended (she broke the 2 year contract); can let the property out to someone else.

What steps should I take to get the 6 week arrears back? It's well over £2k.

tbs624

cococoladebt wrote: »

Property is fine. I have the keys handed back and the tenancy is therefore ended (she broke the 2 year contract); can let the property out to someone else.

What steps should I take to get the 6 week arrears back? It's well over £2k.

Chase up the Council's bond/guarantee to cover some of it.

You should confirm in writing to the LHA office that the T has moved out, leaving arrears.

Do you have the former T's new address, which you would need to pursue her to the small claims court?

You may however decide that you just have to to stand the loss of the balance, as if the T is still on benefits you are likely to have difficulty actually getting any money out of her even if a court awards in your favour. Some LLs will happily cough up the court fees to land an errant T with a CCJ and the possibility of perhaps getting some return at stupid ££ per week and others decide to put it down to experience.(Don't forget to allow for all of this in your tax return.)

The main thing is to get the property re-let pronto to limit your further losses.

cococoladebt

I am already in touch with the council and I have informed them that the T has left with arrears. And I have also found that the tenant was actually paid all the money by the council up until I got my keys back. In other words the T has the money but not handing it to me, as I have already requested the money.

I can recover half the money from the council's guarantee. I have the tenants new address. And are there any steps I need to take before I take the ex-tenant to court?

tbs624

cococoladebt wrote: »

I am already in touch with the council and I have informed them that the T has left with arrears. And I have also found that the tenant was actually paid all the money by the council up until I got my keys back. In other words the T has the money but not handing it to me, as I have already requested the money.

I can recover half the money from the council's guarantee. I have the tenants new address. And are there any steps I need to take before I take the ex-tenant to court?

I would write the T a Letter Before Action (these three words to actually appear at the top of the letter) and include a clear Statement of Rent, showing dates due, dates paid, amount paid, amount to be reclaimed via Bond/Guarantee and remaining amount outstanding.

Give the T 10-14 days in which to contact you with payment and/or a firm (and reasonable) date by which repayment will be made. State that alternatively your next step will be to issue immediate proceedings for recovery via the County Court.

Accountant_Kerry

tbh if you don't think she has the money its not worth suing her as you cant get blood out of a stone, bailiffs etc work out so expensive its probably not worth the bother, chalk it up to experience and move on.

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, get a rent statement prepared in Excel with columns headed "date", "rent due" "rent received" and "balance outstanding" from the beginning of the tenancy to date (you'll need this for court). Then compose a letter headed "Letter Before Action" reminding the tenant that you are owed outstanding rent; that they are responsible for the whole of the rent for the entire duration of the tenancy agreement until you can find a replacement tenant; that they are responsible for reimbursing you for your reasonable costs in finding said new tenant and that if they do not make arrangements to pay the outstanding rent within 14 days you will issue proceedings in the small claims court and should the court find in your favour your tenant will receive a CCJ and have to pay your costs.

Send two copies of both the letter and the rent statement by first-class post from two different post offices retaining proof of postage for both.

Then go to the small claims court. They may not have any money to pay you but getting a CCJ is no laughing matter as they may soon discover.

lisaspice

I had this exact same trouble with a council tenant last year. When i agreed to have a council tenant I was advised that the tenant would never risk holding back the rent because it was their last chance of help and if they did not pass on the rent then the council would wash their hands of them and there would be no more help available, so it seemed a relatively low risk. After a couple of weeks, she constantly remained 6 weeks behind and the council said they wouldn't do anything until she was 8 weeks behind. As soon as she was 8 weeks behind, she gave her notice (she had been in 12 months at this point).

I asked her if she minded me have an estate agent round to value it as I had decided to sell it. She was a bit sheepish and said ok but she was only half living there. When I went round to the property it was clear that no one was living there at all. There was hardly any furniture, everything was boxed up a mattress on the floor with no bedding and loads of junk. I contacted the water board & gas & electric companies and they said that she had called them in June (this was October) to advise she was moving out and to put the accounts back in my name. She owed them a lot of money and since June they said I was accountable for the usage/standing charges. I had to fax them the tenancy agreement to prove I wasn't accountable. This went on for moths and i was getting red reminders for months after and was even threatened with court if i didn't pay up.

The council was absolutely no help whatsoever. I advised them that she wasn't living there (she was being paid £495 a month to pass on to me) and they stopped the benefit immediately but they said that I was unable to pursue what was owed because she wasn't entitled to it if she wasn't living there. To cut a long story short, after a month I told her if she didn't get her stuff out of my house in the next week, it would be in the front garden. Next thing I had a call from the council saying that if I enter the property (even though it was unoccupied) I could be done for trespassing & she could claim compensation from me!!, even though she was 3 months behind in rent & she'd had the money and wasn't living there. Eventually the notice elapsed and I was allowed in. She'd took the lawnmower, curtains etc and left the freezer trays in the garden all smashed. I had to borrow a van to make several trips to the tip and left old sofas tv's videos DVDs & loads of stuff. She took all the window keys which were locked and said she'd posted the keys through the letter box which she hadn't. I changed the locks quick. As my tenancy agreement was for 12 months and this was now nearly 14 months the council told me that I could not claim the bond back as I had to claim it within the 12 months! I argued that how could I possibly claim it back when I couldn't even go in the house. It turned out that the reason she gave notice was that the council was giving her a 3 bedroom council house. After me writing to them with a few strong words, they did backtrack and give me 1 months bond equal to 1 months rent. I was still £1500 down plus sorting out the wreck that she'd left behind. (there was also damage from when her ex boyfriend kicked the front door in, smashed internal doors & smashed the stainless steal extractor fan) and fat burns & coffee stains in bedroom carpets.

As for the suff she'd taken, the council said that it was theft so to report it to the police. They came and took a statement but after 3 months I contacted them to see what was happening and they told me the case was closed as it was a civil matter and to take it through the council. I was going round in circles. Wasn't worth going to small claims court as she was on benefits I would get !!!!!! all from her. I challenged the council that if she wasn't living there she had committed benefit fraud. The utility companies promised to back me up but the council said that there had been a recent case that took someone to court for the same thing and they got let off because the tenant said although the gas & electric was off they lived on takeaways and used candles. After this the councils are reluctant to take them to court cause it costs a lot of money & it's a waste of time. I was told that for every 200 benefit cheats that get taken to court only 12 get convicted so councils won't bother risking it. i asked for the payments to be made direct to me but I was told that it was a government initiative to pay the claimant direct to make them feel part of society and make them responsible!!!
This country is so wrong and we live in a culture of teenage pregnancies & scroungers. Sorry this is a long post but wanted to share to prevent someone else falling foul of this scam. Councils are desperate for private landlords to come forward after they sold all the council houses off, but there is no support!!

G_M

Maybe it's just me Lisa, but I doubt many people will plough through that solid block of text. Much too hard work and it makes my EYES HURT!

OP - you've got off lightly! The problem with tenants who flit is knowing when you can go in, clean up and re-let. If they just disappear, the tenancy actually still exists, even if rent is not being paid. So they still have a right to return (they might, after all, just be on holiday or even in hospital).

In this case, you have the keys back, the AST is clearly ended, so you can move on, albeit out of pocket.

timbo58

and then they all wonder why people say no DSS! (I know its DWP now: my ex was a fraud officer!)
There are so many people genuinely homeless through little or no fault of their own, tarred with the same brush as ars*holes like this.
I also think the law and the police don't help themselves in that what she took from that house is undoubtedly theft in the meaning of the theft act 1968(?) and so how it can then be regarded as 'civil' beats me!

The benefits fraud thing really annoys me though: If you robbed a shop or bank of £10k you would undoubtedly go to jail, if you steal £10k/20k/30k+ from the taxpayer by persistently and knowingly defrauding claims you are allowed to pay back nominal amounts, the remainder written off, which in turn then give you even less incentive to get a proper job.

I have the utmost sympathy for those who fall into problems, even if they are partly to blame, but I have no time for those who deliberately and persistently steal and disrespect their own communities and then laugh at them behind their back.
I would gladly swap them with any country for their skilled, willing workers of any race or religion and wave them off at the airport!
Sorry: rant over.
lol

WhiteHorse

lisaspice wrote: »

When I went round to the property it was clear that no one was living there at all.

I've reported similar to the local authority. Other than entering the property to confirm that the tenant wasn't living there (!), they never did anything, happily continuing to pay benefits to someone who they knew was a fraudster.

Innocent people are persecuted, yet people like that are routinely given carte blanche. Why? Is it some bizarre form of political correctness?

Next thing I had a call from the council saying that if I enter the property (even though it was unoccupied) I could be done for trespassing & she could claim compensation from me!

And Councils wonder why decent private landlords won't take DSS tenants!

As for the suff she'd taken, the council said that it was theft so to report it to the police. They came and took a statement but after 3 months I contacted them to see what was happening and they told me the case was closed as it was a civil matter and to take it through the council.

Needless to say this would be both theft and criminal damage. The police routinely lie to (a) avoid doing any work, and (b) to massage the crime figures.