Tennants trashed our house

cash1204

We have a real property which the tenants seriously neglected, insofar that when they left it cost us way more than the deposit to put right (£5000+). For example, carpets sodden with dog urine and faeces, mould, broken blinds, paintwork ruined, and so forth.

Is this an issue that can be taken to the claims court? I've tracked the ex-tenants down and would welcome some advice, especially from someone with a similar experience.

Thanks

user1977

Yes, in theory. Do they have the money to pay you?

lisyloo

yes but you can't get blood out of a stone, so as above you need to consider their ability to pay. If they have a job or jobs the one way to enforce a judgement is via an attachment of earnings.
bear in mind enforcement costs money and also the attachment could be small payments over a long period.

propertyrental

cash1204 said:

We have a real property which the tenants seriously neglected, insofar that when they left it cost us way more than the deposit to put right (£5000+). For example, carpets sodden with dog urine and faeces, mould, broken blinds, paintwork ruined, and so forth.

Is this an issue that can be taken to the claims court? I've tracked the ex-tenants down and would welcome some advice, especially from someone with a similar experience.

Thanks

As opposed tpo a fictitious property.....?

Yes of course it can be taken to court.

But the points above are seriously relevant - the T's may have no/little money (or claim so to the court) so even if you win you might well never see the money the court awards you, or may only see it in dribs & drabs over an extended period.

On the other hand, if you win and they default on paying you they'll get a well-deserved CCJ which awill affect their future ability to get credit/credit cards, future rentals etc.

mexican_dave

Hi OP, you must forgive the humour of of fellow forumites like @propertyrental , you did say you had "a real property" - that extra information would differentiate it from a non-existent or fictitious property! 😂

[Deleted User]

Can you prove they did it? As in, do you have evidence that it was in that state the first time anyone else entered the property after they vacated?

If not, they will say you trashed it and are trying to get a free referb. It does sound far fetched that anyone could live in a house where the carpets are sodden with urine, so you insistence is unlikely to be very convincing if there is no evidence.

Lavendyr

cash1204 said:

We have a real property which the tenants seriously neglected, insofar that when they left it cost us way more than the deposit to put right (£5000+). For example, carpets sodden with dog urine and faeces, mould, broken blinds, paintwork ruined, and so forth.

Is this an issue that can be taken to the claims court? I've tracked the ex-tenants down and would welcome some advice, especially from someone with a similar experience.

Thanks

Have you protected their deposit, if one was given?

Was an inventory done on check-in and check-out?

The_Unready

mexican_dave said:

Hi OP, you must forgive the humour of of fellow forumites like @propertyrental , you did say you had "a real property" - that extra information would differentiate it from a non-existent or fictitious property! 😂

I don't think that it's too much of a stretch to presume that auto-correct changed 'rental' to 'real'!

ThisIsWeird

Hi Cash.
Did they do a flit? Have they asked for their deposit back? (!)
If yes and no, that would be a strong extra indicator - if needed - that they are responsible for this mess.
Who is your LL's insurance with? Do they have additional legal protection included for just such issues?
But, yes, I'd urge you to pursue them, but make sure it's done correctly - full evidence, more than one quote for cleaning and making good, perhaps statements from neighbours to corroborate their behaviour, etc.
This shouldn't cost much, other than time. But could be satisfying, possibly quite successful (you know where they live - do they have jobs? Or, the bailiffs get sent in and take their TV and car away), should give them a CCJ, and act as a long-term reminder to not be a'oles.
It's the right thing to do.
Also try this site: property118

Grumpy_chap

cash1204 said:

We have a real property which the tenants seriously neglected, insofar that when they left it cost us way more than the deposit to put right (£5000+). For example, carpets sodden with dog urine and faeces, mould, broken blinds, paintwork ruined, and so forth.

Is this an issue that can be taken to the claims court? I've tracked the ex-tenants down and would welcome some advice, especially from someone with a similar experience.

Thanks

You need to pay £5k to put the property right.

How much of that is covered by the deposit you hold? 
I assume you had professional inventory at start and end of let and the deposit was protected.  Based upon what you have stated, the deposit protection scheme will not require any of the deposit to be returned.

How much if that is "betterment" and therefore not chargeable to the tenants?
You need to renew the carpets but, say the carpets are 8 years old and you'd expect the life of a carpet to be 10 years, only 2/10th of the replacement cost is really down to the tenant.

After considering the above, how much is the remaining shortfall that you might consider trying to recover form the tenants?  Is it still worth it?  Do the tenants have the means to pay anyway?

Gavin83

[Deleted User] said:

It does sound far fetched that anyone could live in a house where the carpets are sodden with urine, so you insistence is unlikely to be very convincing if there is no evidence.

This post strikes me as coming from someone who has no idea how some people live. I've been in houses where cat poo is just left on the carpet. The people we bought from had guinea pigs just roaming free around their house and the amount of sewing needles I pulled out of the carpet once we moved in was shocking. These are people that own their house and so have arguably more of an interest in keeping it in a decent condition.

I don't even go in that many peoples houses. Try asking someone in a trade or similar what their experiences are.