Chasing previous tenant for rent arrears

dimbo61

People seem to think a CCJ is nothing to worry about till they try to rent a property or buy a house, car or even mobile phone on a credit agreement.
They last 6 years as well 

davidmcn

here_for_advise said:

this doesn't seem fair for the new tenant to be receiving letters like this

Why? They don't need to do anything with it.

theoretica

here_for_advise said:

I understand what you mean about sending it to the old rental address but this doesn't seem fair for the new tenant to be receiving letters like this even though they are for the previous tenant.

You would presumably warn the new tenant in advance and ask them to put those particular letters aside or return 'no longer at this address'.

martindow

Facebook is somewhere else to look. A lot of people seem to be freely giving away all sorts of information however ill-advised this might be.

David2710

here_for_advise said:

Hi does any body have any advise on how to proceed.
Parents own a rental property,previous tenant has left owing nearly £3000 in rent arrears and no forwarding address.
Letting agents have sent a letter to their parents home(address before rental property) but apparently don't live there anymore and to their works marked private and confidential,which we don't think they will reply to,also sent text messages but no reply.
Since moving out constant debt letters arriving at address even though they had a decent job.
When they left the property in a bad state,have had to spend nearly £5000 to get it decent again.
With no forwarding address is there any way we can get a can for the arrears.
They are not being greedy would just like what's owing to them.
Thanks

Having a good job or being a 'professional' doesn't necessarily mean they'll pay the rent or look after the property. One of the reasons why if I were a LL I would choose a tenant on a guaranteed income such as LHA Housing benefit. These are the best and most reliable tenants in my experience. To your question, I would recommend getting in touch with a debt collection agency for landlords. Once the tenants realise they can run but can't hide they might settle the debt. Worth a try.     

wannabe_a_saver

3card said:

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob said:

moneysavinghero said:

Why no point in getting a guarantor? If you had a guarantor you would now be getting the guarantor to pay for the missing rent rather than having to track down the invisible man.

Ah yes, I can add you to the list of exploiters.
OP no sympathy. Don't rent houses, work for your money,

I do often wonder where the tenants that cannot afford their own properties would be living without private landlords?
Its obvious that there is no where near enough social housing for everyone that needs it 

Maybe there would be if there weren't so many private landlords, after all a lot of them are renting out properties that used to be social housing! 

531063

Give the tenants about 6/9 months before you instruct a tracking agent to look for them as it could take that long for them to get on the electoral roll etc, also always take a copy of NI number as it helps speed tracing up.
https://findermonkey.co.uk/

macman

If i had done a runner owing rent, and probably other debts as well, then the last thing I would be doing is putting myself on the electoral roll...

princeofpounds

For three grand, it's definitely worth having a go at recovery, if you don't find the process too much of a hassle.

A lot of people will tell you not to bother*, and certainly there is no guarantee that it won't be good money after bad, but the cost is more in time than in £, and there is certainly a chance of success.

The first step is to get the CCJ decision from court. Once you have done that, a number of options become available for enforcement.

- Bailiffs. You obviously need a current address and it does cost fees. It also has variable success rates as people are able to play evasion games with bailiffs if they are smart and careful, and it requires them to have recoverable assets. However, for more fees, you can escalate to the High Court and employ HCEOs, who have much stronger powers, but otherwise suffer similar limitations.
- Attachment of earnings order. If you know where the person works, then you can basically get an order that compels their employer to pay you from their wages. Could be very useful for someone employed in a body like the NHS.
- Third party debt order. If you know their bank account details from when they did used to pay, then you can apply to freeze their account and recover money from it. Can be highly effective if the money is there.
- Charge over property - if they ever do turn out to own property, you can register a charge over that property. It is a powerful instrument but you have no control over timing of recovery, could be years and years.

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

I would think an attachment of earnings order could be quite effective, that would be my initial suggestion.

* there are times where it's not worth it. If they don't own anything much, you don't know where they are, you don't know where they work and they have a job that can be moved easily and paid in cash, then yes, enforcement is a remote possibility. But you have one route here with a decent chance of success.

David2710

macman said:

If i had done a runner owing rent, and probably other debts as well, then the last thing I would be doing is putting myself on the electoral roll...

Maybe they don't know how the tracking system works or don't realise their debt will remain recoverable and on their credit file for at least 6 years, and could end up with a country court judgement and even bankruptcy. There are also other tracking methods such as utility bills, mobile phone contracts and credit cards. Is it really worth the hassle for a couple of G's? Armed with this information they might decide to settle the debt.