How to get CCJ and Rent Arrears

recession

Hi All

I have a tenant who owes me around £4k in rent arrears, I have gone through the court for eviction etc and won. I have also paid for baliffs who will be evicting tenant next week (He will probably move out a day or so before). The tenant will not answer my calls.

I believe I know where the tenant is working, not sure if this is permanent or via agency. When taking out the tenancy I wrote down his old address and driving license details. That is about all I have, he seems to know the system and will no way leave a forward on address.

What I would like to ask is, should I persue the court actions? Trying to research I believe the only option is "attachment of earnings". However I do not know if the tenant is in permanent employment and also believe he is getting low wages. After losing thousands and also spending a huge amount on court fees, should I spend more on the CCJ etc or is this procedure usually a waste of money on a tenant who looks like he knows how to play the system.

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

To my mind, going back to court and getting a CCJ regardless of the cost would put a serious crimp in this tenant's future plans to borrow anything or secure another tenancy. At least with any sensible landlord who actually checks their credit-record in the future. For those reasons alone I would go ahead regardless of cost. And I'd go for an attachment of earnings as well. It wouldn't matter to me whether I got £500 a week or a fiver.

People get careless and pop up somewhere later on, often via voter registration, so you might be able to trace him at some point in the future. In the meantime I'd be looking into what avenues his employment shows up. I'd be feeling sneaky and have someone follow him from work once he's vacated.

tbs624

OP - Check out the full info on enforcing a judgement here
http://hmctsformfinder.direct.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex321-eng.pdf

You may also find that there is damage to the property which exceeds any tenancy deposit you hold and I would pursue the matter of all monies owed to you for the reasons that B&T highlights.

If you are to continue letting the property out you may want to beef up your application process. Did you undertake third party referencing/employment checks on this current T at the tim eof his application?

recession

Thanks for the repsonses.

I did do 2 references (inc. ex-landlord) before he moved in, however he was on housing benefit therefore no professional or work references and did a online credit search.

recession

Regarding the "attachment of earnings" - anyone got experience of this. So if I am successfull, can the tenant easily bypass this by resigning from their job and getting another job with another employer?

whiskywhisky

Yes I believe if the tenant left his job then even if you were given a certain amount per week/month - all that will stop. And you will need to get a search agent to find him and start this again.

mchale

Also pop his details on here: http://www.landlordreferencing.co.uk/
I always take nat ins number as well as passport/driv lic details, its also worth googling a future tenants name.

tbs624

Note that it states clearly on your NI card that it is not intended as a form of ID. NINOs are no business of any LL. Photographic ID already supplied if passpost and D Licence info provided.

Not too that the owner of the firm mentioned by mchale had abusive posts removed from this site by MSE admin

recession

I have put his details onto that site.

I take note that the site may be a bit amarurish, however something like this is needed.

There must be millions of "career" rent dodgers out there, whose record is only tarnished with a CCJ. Which to me seems difficult to get unless you have details with where he has moved to or employment details.

BitterAndTwisted

I agree that it's a risk which is why self-managing landlord should get all the ID and references they can in order to weed out the bad tenants. I wouldn't accept a reference from a tenant's current landlord because they could be giving them a glowing one just to get shot of them.

And another reason to act as soon as any arrears build up, rather than waiting until it's a substantial sum. If this tenant was claiming HB/LHA I'd be communicating with the Local Authority as well, as they have been spending money not intended for themselves.

If you haven't already I would suggest that you join a landlords association tout suite. Membership brings many benefits and one of those is guidance and advice on thorough referencing plus access to legal advice on how to get tenants to court for arrears. If you were a member you wouldn't be needing to ask your questions on this forum, you'd be acting, informed.

recession

BitterAndTwisted - thanks

I have joined a landlord association, maybe it is me but as I have been using this site for a while I find this easier to use and you generally recieve the same advice.

Regarding the tenant receiving HB - this also annoyed me (makes me sick that cuts are being in the health and police sector and people like my tenant are getting free money!. I honestly emailed and write to the housing benefit department about 5 weeks ago and have not got a reply. Part of me thinks they should open up dialogue with me, and part thinks can the housing benefit discuss the details of another person with me, what with data proctecion etc.