Landlords who have taken their tenant to small claims court

AdrianC

AlwaysWorking wrote: »

The white goods were new and the house was newly painted. The check out report has said to claim for 70% of the cost of the carpets.

And how long ago was that?

Remember, the period of this tenancy counts towards fair wear and tear. If the tenant's been in for 10 years, then that's 10 years towards the reasonably expected life of the paint/white goods.

AlwaysWorking

AdrianC wrote: »

And how long ago was that?

12 month tenancy.

AlwaysWorking

need_an_answer wrote: »

What sort of monetary claim are they hoping to achieve?

I'm not sure. The tenancy only ended on Sunday and the check out report was received this morning. I don't know how much the washing machine cost or what the internal doors/carpets were like (never been in the house).

need_an_answer

Without sitting down and working out the cost of the items minus wear and tear v the costs involved in pursuing the claim its very difficult to decide that small claims will be the way to go.


So your friend only got the report this morning for check out,have they visited the property yet?


perhaps once you and they have a clear view of whats involved from all sides of the claim,and presumabkly you've exhausted all other avenues of contact with he tenant you can both decide the best way forward.


Don't dismiss the posters that have said "suck it up" they've been there and sometimes its better to do just that.

Small claims isn't a golden goose that will repay him,its actually quite time consuming and doesn't always give you a judgement that's easily enforceable going forward.

AlwaysWorking

need_an_answer wrote: »

Without sitting down and working out the cost of the items minus wear and tear v the costs involved in pursuing the claim its very difficult to decide that small claims will be the way to go.


So your friend only got the report this morning for check out,have they visited the property yet?


perhaps once you and they have a clear view of whats involved from all sides of the claim,and presumabkly you've exhausted all other avenues of contact with he tenant you can both decide the best way forward.


Don't dismiss the posters that have said "suck it up" they've been there and sometimes its better to do just that.

Small claims isn't a golden goose that will repay him,its actually quite time consuming and doesn't always give you a judgement that's easily enforceable going forward.

I see your point. Maybe when he has calmed down he will reconsider. I think at the moment it's just the shock of how she left the property and the fact she has stolen the white goods. The agent emailed her yesterday and she responded to say they had broken down so she had disposed of them...they were new when she moved in a year ago and so would have been under warranty. Interestingly her new property does not come with white goods...

agrinnall

Well if your friend knows where they have moved to why doesn't he report the theft of the white goods to the police? He may be able to get them back at no cost rather than buying new ones. Presumable he recorded serial numbers.

AlwaysWorking

agrinnall wrote: »

Well if your friend knows where they have moved to why doesn't he report the theft of the white goods to the police? He may be able to get them back at no cost rather than buying new ones. Presumable he recorded serial numbers.

Because there are doors in the house which have been damaged beyond repair, rooms to be repainted, carpets replaced, items broken, a deep clean required, rubbish to be disposed of...I think he was hoping to reclaim some of the cost of this as well as the white goods. I've let him know that the general consensus is that he might just be best chalking it up to experience.

babyblade41

Re-decoration and deep clean is par for the course after a rental has ended.

It is unfortunate that it wasn't left in a decent manner but really the court route is not the easy option either.

It is very time consuming even if the person won the claim, it then has to be executed and trying to do that costs .
Then if they don't have any assets apart from some white goods that belong to the claimant anyway I doubt if you'd get anywhere

You say their new place didn't have white goods so giving them a CCJ won't affect their current rental .
I just feel your friend is looking at quite a payout but realistically the only hope of winning would be the 2nd hand costs of a washing machine and tumble dryer
If the inventory wasn't done completely you might even have trouble proving they were there already

Like I said a court option isn't that easy and extremely long winded and time consuming

For me I'd rather move on and as previous poster said "suck it up"

need_an_answer

agrinnall wrote: »

Well if your friend knows where they have moved to why doesn't he report the theft of the white goods to the police? He may be able to get them back at no cost rather than buying new ones. Presumable he recorded serial numbers.

This is certainly a starting point,especially if you sorry he the LL knows where the tenant has moved to.


Formal communication to the tenant advising that the matter has been reported and it could be that the goods suddenly get "found"

Before you go down the route of small claims he needs to make sure that all other avenues of contact have been used and that a deadlock type situation has been reached.

This all only happened on Sunday,Monday and today...its unlikely that would be seen as a sufficient time or effort made to redolve the outstanding issues

G_M

Yes LLs take tenants to court.
Yes they can win if hey have a valid case.
Yes, sometimes they get the money paid.
Yes, if the money is not paid he tenant gets a CCJ affecting their credit rating.


Starting point is



* what exactly you wish to claim
* what evidence you have that the claim is valid