Student co-renter rips off the house

Smodlet

westernpromise wrote: »

Things must have changed since I was at university.

This evidently no longer applies once they graduate.

Yeah, do they not receive their horns and tails until graduation, now? Thought it used to be a course requirement.

steampowered

The basic issue here is that you need to find Mandy. There are a few options here:

1) Try a tracing agent. A trace only costs about £20.

2) Push the estate agent a bit harder. Does the estate agent have her address?

You could point out that the address is required for the purposes of commencing legal proceedings and that data protection legislation contains an exemption for this purpose.

You could try withholding the additional rent until such time as the EA has provided Mandy's address.

You could also say that you intend to apply for court for an order that the EA discloses Mandy's address if necessary - known as a third party disclosure order - which will require the EA to attend court and involve unnecessary aggro.

3) Does any of the paperwork have Mandy's address or give a clue?

Bohannun wrote: »

2. Today I!!!8217;ve found her on Instagram. I will contact her on there soon

As a last resort, it is actually possible to get court permission to serve legal proceedings through facebook or instagram if you can't get her address, but a £255 application fee would apply.

steampowered

Comms69 wrote: »

6 years is the pre CCJ stage.

Indeed, it’s also sensible to chase for even a payment plan. Whilst the CCJ doesn’t close; you may need to justify enforcement to a judge.

A CCJ will only stay on someone's credit record for 6 years.

There is a 6 year long-stop on CCJs. If you want to enforce a CCJ more than 6 years old, you need to make a formal application to court before you can take further enforcement action.

On all your other posts, I'm just not sure you are living in the real world. You phrase these contracts as a 'choice'. Unfortunately joint and several has become pretty standard in the market, and is only revealed to students at a very late stage in the lettings process shortly before uni starts, so people are left in a position where they have no choice but to accept.

steampowered

G_M wrote: »

Provided reasonable efforts have been made to identify a defendant's address, notice can be served at the last known address (ie the property in question).

It should be noted that, as stated for under part 6.14(b) of the rules you posted, this can only be done as follows: the claimant must make an application.

The application would have to be made before the claim is issued (i.e. not through the small claims online system). The fee for making such an application is £255.

If the Op simply serves a small claim through the small claims system without making an application, they would probably get a CCJ against this Mandy, but in reality that may not prompt payment (as Mandy won't know about it) and Mandy could get the CCJ set aside for invalid service at a later date (though she would have to reveal her address to get the set aside).

Comms69

steampowered wrote: »

A CCJ will only stay on someone's credit record for 6 years.

There is a 6 year long-stop on CCJs. If you want to enforce a CCJ more than 6 years old, you need to make a formal application to court before you can take further enforcement action.

On all your other posts, I'm just not sure you are living in the real world. You phrase these contracts as a 'choice'. Unfortunately joint and several has become pretty standard in the market, and is only revealed to students at a very late stage in the lettings process shortly before uni starts, so people are left in a position where they have no choice but to accept.

Thanks I couldn’t remember the length post judgment; handily it’s the same

Unless the LL has a gun; it’s a choice.

Comms69

steampowered wrote: »

It should be noted that, as stated for under part 6.14(b) of the rules you posted, this can only be done as follows: the claimant must make an application.

The application would have to be made before the claim is issued (i.e. not through the small claims online system). The fee for making such an application is £255.

If the Op simply serves a small claim through the small claims system without making an application, they would probably get a CCJ against this Mandy, but in reality that may not prompt payment (as Mandy won't know about it) and Mandy could get the CCJ set aside for invalid service at a later date (though she would have to reveal her address to get the set aside).

Unless I’m mistaken she can only get a set aside if she has a reasonable chance of success - seems unlikely

steampowered

Comms69 wrote: »

Unless I!!!8217;m mistaken she can only get a set aside if she has a reasonable chance of success - seems unlikely

This is the legal test for summary judgment (i.e. an application for a judgment without a hearing, usually requested after the defendant has filed a defence).

For set asides defendants only need "a real prospect of successfully defending the claim" (an easier test to meet), but they can also get one if they can show some other reason why the judgment should be set aside.

If the claimant knowingly served a claim form at an address where they knew it would not be received, I'd think the court would grant a set aside without needing to know much more (though set asides are v. discretionary - a lot depends on the attitude of the judge on the day).

steampowered

davidmcn wrote: »

If it's not a criminal matter then I don't see her choice of course is relevant (even assuming she would be going on to the legal profession, which not everyone does). There's no principle that lawyers shouldn't have CCJs (though actual bankruptcy can be a problem).

A CCJ of any description causes wannabe lawyers a lot of aggro.

I quote below one of the questions from the form which people have to submit to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to get their approval before starting as a trainee solicitor:

Have you ever been declared bankrupt, entered into any individual voluntary arrangements (IVA) or had a County Court Judgment (CCJ) issued against you?

If you answered Yes, we will assume that you cannot manage your finances properly. We will refuse your application unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If you have answered Yes to question 5.6 you must give us the following:
A A full statement of the events. If you think exceptional circumstances apply please explain why.
B Independent evidence, including paperwork from your court hearing with dates, court reference numbers and the outcome. You also need to include things you have done to clear any debts, satisfy any judgments, and manage your finances.
C References from at least two professional people. They should know about the incident and refer to it specifically. Ideally at least one should be an employer. Your references cannot come from personal friends or relatives.
D A credit report from Experian or Equifax no more than one month old.

dimbo61

Agree with other posters 're complaint from other tenants ( students ) who will no doubt be attending the same university.
All the students are paying £9,000+ annually to the university for the course they are on.
I am sure the university could bring pressure to bear on Mandy to pay her rent and not rip off her fellow tenants.
The Landlord has done nothing wrong here.

Smodlet

dimbo61 wrote: »

Agree with other posters 're complaint from other tenants ( students ) who will no doubt be attending the same university.
All the students are paying £9,000+ annually to the university for the course they are on.
I am sure the university could bring pressure to bear on Mandy to pay her rent and not rip off her fellow tenants.
The Landlord has done nothing wrong here.

Sure, they have. Unfortunately, there is no law against it.