tennants damage house + owe rent

mattrus

Hi all

looking for advise , i rented my house out for a couple of years through an agent all was going well till about 16 months ago when the couple split , rent became sporadic untill i told agent to say if they dont start paying they were going to be evicted , as if by magic payment started getting paid again but non f the 3 months arrears were paid ,

then payments started to be missed again few months ago so i got the agent to issue a S21 notice ,

the tennant said they were not moving untill i get an eviction notice (council supposed to have told them to say this) .

in end i had to write of over £3k in arrears to get rid of tennant

when i finally got keys back , the house was infested with flea's from a dog they were not supposed to have, ( had to get pest control in), had to have someone come and clear all the stuff they had left , kids have drawn all over the walls, i thrown out all the carpets as they been ripped by the dog's

the dogs had chewed through the door frames and house alarm cables ,

house is having to be painted from top to bottom

the Letting agent is not realy helping , i keep asking how do i go about claiming against the deposit they took from tennant , they say they ring me back and never do , or reply to emails

is there an central place the deposit is kept , i can contact

after this i am selling the house , as i can not be doing with all the stress and worry

BitterAndTwisted

WRITE to the agent asking them to confirm which protection scheme the deposit was registered with. That's the tenant's money, not the ruddy agent's!

The three schemes (that I know of) are DPS, TDS and MyDeposits. The first is a custodial scheme where the funds are transferred into the scheme. The second two are insurance-based ones where the funds are retained by whoever accepted them.

Was there a dual-signed and dated check-in inventory when these lousy tenants moved into your property?

Was there any indication that these tenants weren't perfect when you read their references from previous landlord/s?

RAS

England, Wales, Scotland as the law is different.

If in England or Wales you should know where the deposit is protected and have ensured that the prescribed information was issued correctly.

if not the tenant can sue you. The hopeful thing is that they left the property, which suggests that the S21 was valid (as one issed without deposit protection is invalid).

Go to the scheme web-sites, and check yourself.

mattrus

hi,

thanks for quick replys , i will write to agent to ask about which scheme they used the deposit will not cover the damage or rent owed , the S21 was all done correctly as agents had it solicitors check it ( so i was told by agent ) .

i keep getting letters for tennant they have 2 surname's which is ringing alarm bells in head. i not opened them , i just returned to sender ,

the couple had good reference and were fine untll they split up , thats when it seemed to go bottom up.

there was photos taken and inventory of house when they moved in .

cheers matt

topdaddy_2

mattrus wrote: »

hi,

thanks for quick replys , i will write to agent to ask about which scheme they used the deposit will not cover the damage or rent owed , the S21 was all done correctly as agents had it solicitors check it ( so i was told by agent ) .

i keep getting letters for tennant they have 2 surname's which is ringing alarm bells in head. i not opened them , i just returned to sender ,

the couple had good reference and were fine untll they split up , thats when it seemed to go bottom up.

there was photos taken and inventory of house when they moved in .

cheers matt

It doesnt matter that the deposit doesnt cover it all, you should still claim it as a starting point.

BitterAndTwisted

Got photos of all the damage? Got all remedial works priced up?

Chasing tenants for unpaid rent when they don't actually have the money can seem like a pointless task but getting a judgement against them in court will very seriously affect their getting credit in future and dissuade any landlords from letting to them. IF (big if) you can find them.

I'd be having a read of those letters before you send them back. They might help you trace the tenants.