So, my tenant left the country without paying rent

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

No. EC.

I was referring to the Republic of.

Taking action for the arrears through the courts over there would be problomatic to say the least.

Can we stay in the real world?;)
You can lose hours of your life over on Nation States............

msrisotto

He owes the last months rent, tenancy ends this month. They were joint tenants. They are both Australian and I have less contact details for her than him. The company he works for is based in the UK and Australia I believe. I think I will just have to suck it up as a learning experience as I haven't lost a lot of money. It just stings and it is costing me time more than anything.

Morgage_Confused

How did he get the mattress to Australia?

msrisotto wrote: »

And left the place in a mess.

Is there absolutely anything I can do? Unfortunately the deposit is only equal to the last months rent. He left a lot of work to do and nicked a mattress.

I am out of pocket due to this. Anything I can do?

thanks for any help.

msrisotto

I wouldn't imagine he has to be honest! All I know is that it isn't there!

theartfullodger

Take legal action through small claims route. Chances are he won't turn up in court. Get judgement: Later, enforce to CCJ (his credit worthiness will suffer.., certainly in UK..). Perhaps there will be a way to alert OZ social networks of his debt history ??

When you get CCJ write to him pointing out problems he now has & inviting payment..

(Suspect it is not possible but investigate & try..) recovering from him in Oz. (It is possible to recover debt from one jurisdiction in another, I've done it..) and if you can't, keep monitoring him in the hope he moves somewhere (certainly EU..) where it's possible..

No crook, cheat or swindler, whether tenant, landlord, agent or civil-list-recipient should be allowed to get off scot-free, even though this will cost you time & money..

msrisotto

I will let him know that 1. He is not entitled to use his deposit as the last months rent, 2. I know where he works 3. I can enforce a CCJ which will affect him if he wants to return and 4. I can pursue this despite him moving abroad.

theartfullodger

Do NOT tell him you are taking legal action, except in so far as you must. No point alerting him to it and him having more time (or any time..) to put in a defence...

msrisotto

I thought that if I let him know that I could, then that might spur him into avoiding it?

Naf

So to summarise the best advice from above:
Serve papers on him at the address rented from you.
Wait for him to respond: if he does, then you should receive payment or a judgement for it; if he doesn't then you win by default and he gets a CCJ.
After completing the above, write to him at whatever address you have for him in Aus (both home & work if you have them) just to let him know the situation should he ever return to live here.
However, if he is Australian, he might never need to come back for more than a holiday so it'll still not get you your money.

antrobus

Naf wrote: »

So to summarise the best advice from above:
Serve papers on him at the address rented from you.
Wait for him to respond: if he does, then you should receive payment or a judgement for it; if he doesn't then you win by default and he gets a CCJ.
After completing the above, write to him at whatever address you have for him in Aus (both home & work if you have them) just to let him know the situation should he ever return to live here.
However, if he is Australian, he might never need to come back for more than a holiday so it'll still not get you your money.

You missed the bit about "It is possible to recover debt from one jurisdiction in another". Australia and the UK mutually recognise each other's civil judgements.