CCJ against multiple tenants

ROSENMARSH

Dear MSE friends

Unfortunately my wife rented her flat out to tenants who did not pay the rent and left the flat in a very poor state. We lost about £5000 in all through unpaid rent, damage and stolen goods.
We want in the first instance to get a CCJ. A couple of questions.

First, there were three tenants on the contract but rent came through just one of the tenant's bank accounts. Does this make any difference in terms of whom we should be pursuing. Can one tenant be liable for all three?
Second, these people are not nice - we know that they are involved in fraudulent use of vehicle permits and generally have the air of people who do not respect the law. They are also not UK nationals. We would prefer to put my wife's parents' address (with their permission and because they live some distance way) rather than our own on the claim form. Is this an issue?

Many thanks for advice.

Comms69

ROSENMARSH wrote: »

Dear MSE friends

Unfortunately my wife rented her flat out to tenants who did not pay the rent and left the flat in a very poor state. We lost about £5000 in all through unpaid rent, damage and stolen goods.
We want in the first instance to get a CCJ. A couple of questions.

First, there were three tenants on the contract but rent came through just one of the tenant's bank accounts. Does this make any difference in terms of whom we should be pursuing. Can one tenant be liable for all three?
Second, these people are not nice - we know that they are involved in fraudulent use of vehicle permits and generally have the air of people who do not respect the law. They are also not UK nationals. We would prefer to put my wife's parents' address (with their permission and because they live some distance way) rather than our own on the claim form. Is this an issue?

Many thanks for advice.

Just to be clear, when you say get a CCJ; that doesn’t necessary mean what you think it means.

If they are joint tenants you can pursue 1, 2 or all 3- however you choose. Logically going after all 3 makes the most sense.

Oh no are the scary foreigners? In any case you probably should’ve done your homework before letting it to them. I’m surprised that grown adults need to hide behind their parents.

In any case why are you bothering with a CCJ if they a: don’t respect the law and are therefore unlikely to pay and b: don’t get their income legitimately? What are you hoping to achieve?

It seems at best they’ll ignore it; at worst they’ll get nasty.

G_M

ROSENMARSH wrote: »

First, there were three tenants on the contract but rent came through just one of the tenant's bank accounts. Does this make any difference in terms of whom we should be pursuing. Can one tenant be liable for all three?
If all 3 tenants are named 'jointly and severally' on the contract you sue all 3 of them. You can of course choose o pursue just one of them if you wish - but why would you?
a) if that one has no assets, you'll get nothing even if you win. Sue all 3 and maybe one of them wll hae assets
b) if you get nothing except the satisfaction of a recoded CCJ on their credit files, why would you want to let 2 of them off?



Second, these people are not nice - we know that they are involved in fraudulent use of vehicle permits and generally have the air of people who do not respect the law. They are also not UK nationals. We would prefer to put my wife's parents' address (with their permission and because they live some distance way) rather than our own on the claim form. Is this an issue?

Many thanks for advice.

You need to put your address on court papers I believe.

steampowered

You would normally sue all 3 of them and get a CCJ against all 3 of them, assuming you have a joint+several tenancy agreement.

When you have a CCJ you would then make the decision as to who you want to send bailiffs/HCEOs after.

Realistically this is only worth doing if you can identify assets owned by the former tenants or at least have an address you can send bailiffs/HCEOs round to.

There is no problem providing your parents' address on the court paperwork, so long as the Defendants are able to serve court papers at that address.

theartfullodger

Presumably they have actual addresses from original tenancy or can get your for £3 from Land Registry?

Should you and your wife not be shielding parents, possibly aged, from unpleasant persons? Where is your decency, your honour, your British traditions?

Tenants may be viewing anyway.

Always worth a CCJ to ruin chances of loans, mortgages, mobile 'phone contracts.

paddy's_mum

In your parents in law's shoes, I wouldn't be 'inviting' these people to my door, perhaps with baseball bats ...:eek:

davidmcn

If the tenants really wanted to find you, do you think they'd have much of a problem doing so? You would have been obliged to disclose landlord's name and address anyway, at least during the tenancy.

saajan_12

ROSENMARSH wrote: »

Dear MSE friends

Unfortunately my wife rented her flat out to tenants who did not pay the rent and left the flat in a very poor state. We lost about £5000 in all through unpaid rent, damage and stolen goods. - did wife collect a deposit, check references from past rentals, etc?
We want in the first instance to get a CCJ. - okay, if they've already left then do you have their new address? You'll need that to serve papers and enforce a CCJ. A couple of questions.

First, there were three tenants on the contract but rent came through just one of the tenant's bank accounts. Does this make any difference in terms of whom we should be pursuing. Can one tenant be liable for all three? - The people on one contract are jointly and severally liable for the rent per that contract. Did all 3 have separate contracts? If all on one joint contract then they don't have 'shares', you can pursue any / all for the full rent. Who paid is irrelevant.
Second, these people are not nice - we know that they are involved in fraudulent use of vehicle permits and generally have the air of people who do not respect the law. They are also not UK nationals. - did you try to find any of this out during referencing BEFORE letting the property? We would prefer to put my wife's parents' address (with their permission and because they live some distance way) rather than our own on the claim form. Is this an issue? - why? they likely already have your address on the tenancy agreement as you'd have had to provide an address for serving notices. I imagine it is allowed, but all claim paperwork woudl be send to your parents.

Many thanks for advice.

If you want to get a CCJ, then claim the full amount against all named tenants jointly. Note if you can prove your case, its likely you'd win the CCJ and ruin their credit for a while, but enforcing the CCJ to get any money is another story. If they don't have salaried jobs, then attaching their earnings is unlikely. If they already have illegitimate deals then they may not care about their credit history which would prompt them to pay up. So you're left with bailiffs which cost you in the first instance before costs can be awarded against the ex tenants.. do they have valuable property that can be siezed and sold?