Tenant left without paying any rent

jmrance1

I am a very new landlord and have just had a tenant leave without paying any rent. I was very naive and kept believing her excuses. She owes me nearly £5000 so I went to the small claims and was given a judgement against her. I then sent the bailiffs round to get the money but their reply was that her stuff was not even worth the cost of taking it and storing it.

What can I do now?

I am absolutely desperate for this money. I only rented out the house so I could move in with my partner. I have had to sell the house now and lost money on it.

Please HELP

Alan_M_2

It initially begs the question, how did you let things get into this state?

abaxas

Awoooooooga!

KrisPringle

unfortunately there is not a lot you can do. same happened to my parents a few years ago. just have to take it on the chin.
i suppose if you keep pressing you may be able to get a garnishee order, attachment of earnings order, or even a bankruptcy order, however these can be expensive and time consuming with no guarantee of receiving a penny.

BobProperty

jmrance1 wrote: »

I am a very new landlord and have just had a tenant leave without paying any rent. I was very naive and kept believing her excuses. She owes me nearly £5000 so I went to the small claims and was given a judgement against her. I then sent the bailiffs round to get the money but their reply was that her stuff was not even worth the cost of taking it and storing it.

What can I do now?

I am absolutely desperate for this money. I only rented out the house so I could move in with my partner. I have had to sell the house now and lost money on it.

Please HELP

You aren't going to see it. Unless the tenant has a job (and isn't self employed or similar) you won't get anything. If they have a job then Garnishee order is the most likely way of getting anything but you are looking at a few pounds a week most likely. What is the ex-tenant's employment status?

slinks

how on earth did it get to 5 grand?!?!?!

amboy

You are gonna get a lot of ppl questioning how naive you have been, dont let them get to you as long as you learn from this.

We have all had bad experiences and as Bob said you will not get a penny if they have nothing, my guess is that they played on your goodwill.

A case in point to all the people who think LL are mega rich greedy people.

chant1l

The money is gone, it will eat you alive if you think spending more will get you it back.
The good news is you have the property back, sell it or re-rent it and move on.
Invariably there are tell tale signs when a tenancy is going wrong, no returned calls,rent coming late/in bits and so on. Next time you will be a little less tolerant. When the rent is 1 month and one day unpaid issue a section 8, if they don't respond to that, you weren't getting your rent anyhow. Get rid.

jmrance1

Yes I admit I was naive but I was also under the impression that nothing could be done legally until the tenant was 2 months in arrears. The rent was over £900 a month so it didn't take long for it to get to just under £5k. We were also sent a cheque so that kept us quiet until it bounced back. Then we got some housing benefit which we didn't want but at least it was money. I just can't believe that someone like this can get through a credit check. She is now renting again in Tipton and does not work so I realise there is little chance of getting our money back but I would like to teach this person a lesson so it doesn't happen to another trusting landlord.

Thanks for all your replies.

RabbitMad

How did you find this tenant. You allude to credit checks. Is there somebody that you could get the money off (e.g. letting agent?) When I let my property the letting agent had an insurance policy that basically covered me for 5 months of the 1st 6 months rent if the tenant failed to pay a penny.

thesaint

If you have the time, inclination and money, you can get a ccj registered against her, it will probably not make a difference to you getting any of your money back, but it will make it hard for her to do gain credit in the future.