Small Claim Court - Tenant in arrears

swingaloo2

Mrowka said:

Let just summarise. I am bad LL- Not necessarily bad but certainly clueless as to what you should and should not be doing.

and tenant is lovely although not paying rent, not responding to letters/emails, -  Obviously tenant should be paying rent and if you go about things the correct way you should be able to eventually get an eviction. However from what you have said it seems highly unlikely that everything is in order to enable you to do so. Tenant is probably ignoring your letters etc as he feels he is being harrassed.

causing damage to the property - As you have already been advised, this is nothing at all to do with you until the tenant eventually leaves the property

and will not mention other issues as this might be to obvious.  -???

Am I correct? - Up to now, no.

Rather than digging your heels in you need to take notice of the advice you have been given, after all the reason for posting was to ask advice.

swingaloo2

Iv'e just seen your other thread asking if it's a good idea to rent your property out yourself. You were given masses of information via links on that thread which you must not have read otherwise you would not be in the situation in which you find yourself now.

AdrianC

Mrowka said:

Let just summarise. I am bad LL and tenant is lovely although not paying rent, not responding to letters/emails, causing damage to the property and will not mention other issues as this might be to obvious. Am I correct?

Nobody said the tenant is lovely.

You have had the CORRECT LEGAL PROCEDURES spelt out to you.

grumiofoundation

Mrowka said:

Let just summarise. I am bad LL and tenant is lovely although not paying rent, not responding to letters/emails, causing damage to the property and will not mention other issues as this might be to obvious. Am I correct?

Good response to a small degree of criticism. 

No one has said the tenant is “lovely” have they? (Clearly the opposite is true)
The tenant not paying rent doesn’t absolve you of your responsibilities (which you may or may not agree with but you knew when you started your business). 

From the info provided it seem to me you do not fully understand the rights and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords have and have some gaps in understanding of aspects of contract/civil/criminal law. Rather than accepting you might not be perfect and taking comments/advice on board you have chosen to overreact and make silly comments such as the above.

Mrowka

swingaloo2 

Rather than digging your heels in you need to take notice of the advice you have been given, after all the reason for posting was to ask advice.

Thanks. 

Correct I am posting here for advice and instead I am getting accused here of being a bad LL.
Obviously I cannot see what I am doing wrong so please enlighten me:
1. Tenant is in arrears. I have dropped off two formal requests. Have I done this incorrect?
2. Friends send me pictures of damage. So I am asking about options i.e. police involvement. AdrianC correctly explained this to me now. But is there anything else I have done incorrect? I understand that tenant must move out, before I make claim. What if tenant moves out abroad? Do you now understand why I am trying to be proactive, before tenant disappears. I have assume tenant have no intention to repair damages as is not paying rent. 
3. Eviction notice handed in. All certs in date when handed in. Then some expired. As someone explained, it will be for judge to decide. Tenant refused access for inspections. What I have done incorrect?
What is not right with served notice?

Where from did you draw conclusions that I have harassed tenant?

So if I am clueless, please tell me what should I do and how?

There are other issues with tenant but I do not wish to mention them as it might be to obvious for tenant. 

AdrianC

Mrowka said:

1. Tenant is in arrears. I have dropped off two formal requests. Have I done this incorrect?

You don't need to do anything.
The tenant owes you rent.

BUT that does not change anything from your side, except it gives you the option to issue s8 notice as well as s21.

2. Friends send me pictures of damage.

Not your problem until the tenant moves out.

3. Eviction notice handed in. All certs in date when handed in. Then some expired. As someone explained, it will be for judge to decide. Tenant refused access for inspections. What I have done incorrect?

If you can prove that you made proper and sustained attempts to book access for EICR and GSC, then that's fine.

Where from did you draw conclusions that I have harassed tenant?

From your posts...

Mrowka said:

Tenant does not respond to my emails, calls or knock to the doors.

Mrowka said:

When tenant is not responding to any way of communication I believe I have duty of care to check if he is ok.

Mrowka said:

Tenant can execute his legal rights when he comply with legal obligations he signed for. To be honest I am confused. Are you suggesting tenant and landlord are not equal? One have more rights then the other one?

Mrowka said:

I have never stated I was disturbing tenant. I was at the property delivering letters. It is allowed. I have friends living at the estate so they send photos with external damages to the property.
...

When did I stated that I have entered the property? Your statement about changing the locks is not helpful  and as you should know it would be breach of contract, same as not paying the rent.  

...

I never stated I have peeped through the windows of someone else's home looking for damage!

(except you did)

Mrowka said:

I have seen damage inside to kitchen units and lamps.  

swingaloo2

The answers to all your questions are available in the links you have been given. If as you say, you are trying to be proactive then it would be a good idea to read through them. 

[Deleted User]

It might be worth joining the National Residential Landlords Association and doing some of their training courses.  

https://www.nrla.org.uk/training-academy/compliance/becoming-a-landlord

Mrowka

I said I have seen!!  And you concluded that I have entered the property illegally. Maybe I have seen it during last allowed inspection. Is that impossible? There are other ways too. Legal ways.  

I do not believe small claims court track is for evictions anyway and most of you diverted from subject, which in this case is pre-action protocol for small claims court, not eviction. 

The links given do not provide answer to that question. I have provided links with two different pre-action protocols in question. 

During this 5 pages of abuse I been told I am bad LL and that you fell sorry for poor tenant. Seriously!! 

On the basis of some responses here I doubt some of you are experts in small claims court process. I shared more details regarding issue, maybe more related to your field of expertise, but again, no answer. What to do if tenants plan is to leave UK? Do not ask me how I know that and do not conclude anything, just be professional and if you know the answer or dealt with similar issue please provide some guidance. Please do the same to pre-action protocol question, because if I can start claim now I think even if tenant leave UK still be obligated to provide new address to the court. 

Thanks. 

AdrianC

Mrowka said:

What to do if tenants plan is to leave UK?
...
because if I can start claim now I think even if tenant leave UK still be obligated to provide new address to the court. 

The only difference is that if the debtor has already left the country, it's a damn sight harder to actually lodge the claim. Is a UK court even the right one?

But even if they leave the UK during an ongoing claim, what do you plan to do about it? They probably don't care about a CCJ, and you aren't going to easily enforce the judgement, are you?

You still can't issue a claim pre-emptively, which is what you're trying to do.