HELP - tenant has done a moon light flit

oki_2

I'd be tempted to say that you'll claim for the house damages through Corgi (Obviously, it's got nothing whatsovever to do with them, and I wouldn't actually contact them anyway, but that's not the point). The last thing he'll want is someone complaining to his professional organisation about him even on a completely unrelated matter. If nothing else, it'll make him squirm.[/quote]

Thats a very good idea and one I had not thought of!!! I will hopefully get the quote by Tuesday and will have a covering letter ready to post. I'm hoping to resolve the issue with him ASAP. I also has to report the damage to the police....they want to come round and have a look a week on Monday....so can't get it cleared out till then........gosh its turning into a saga!!!! Thanks all

clutton_2

i know others have said go after the tenant - but surely your most urgent need is to get this house re-tenanted so that you have income to pay your mortgage ? as soon as the police have been (and i am amazed they are coming at all !!) get on with decorating the property and start advertising and get a new tenant.

if you take this man to court, especially using a solicitor at £180 per hour, you will lose out financially big-time -

At any court hearing - the tenant may not turn up, you MAY get judgement, if you do, he wont pay, you then go back to the court for a Bailiffs warrant to seize his property to sell to pay your debt

if there are not enough goods to seize - you go back to court to ask for an attachement of Earnings - but you can guarantee he is self employed and will find a way of not paying you

every time you go to court it costs you money for an order - and the time you will use up in pursuing this relatively minor matter will be huge - it will take over your consciousness and you will become obsessed with it

my best advice (and i have been in your position) is to just move on - clean up , decorate, use much better referencing techniques to get new tenants, learn from this expereince, and claim all your expenses in getting the house back in order against your rental income ...

you may not want to hear this - but in the l ong run, letting this drop will be in your best interest

and no, it aint fair that tenants do this occasionally - all businesses have their down side - this is ours

if you MUST go to court then join National landlords assocation and use their expertise, their free legal helpline, their resources to take the tenant to court yourself - its not rocket science - you will get truly expert advice from them for very little cost - joining fee of NLA is also tax deductible

bw

kavanaghdavid

My experience is that Tassotti is right (whether or not he signed anything). It is very difficult to get anything out of people who don't want to pay - I should be grateful that he moved rather than stayed in the house. In my experience, such people are MUCH more trouble.

oki_2

I hear all that you say kavanaghdavid and clutton - I am covered by insurance for some of the damage and the loss adjuster has said I can pursue tenant for the uninsured damage....he has agreed to pay something. I just need to get the quote and will write to him again.

tbs624

Yes, it's too easy to let your anger in these circumstances prevent you from moving on. However, Oki did mention that it looked like the tenant had now moved into his own property . Does Clutton's suggestion leaves a public & very clear message to this type of tenant that they can do what they like to someone else's property and never have to take responsibility for it? What happens then is that the LL maybe looks at raising his/her rent to the next potential tenant to try to recoup some of that loss (yes, an experienced LL would already factor in the possibility of these scenarios to their budget-setting)

Would Clutton offer similar advice about court proceedings to a tenant who was struggling to recover their deposit from a LL who was selling up and getting out of the business due to financial difficulties?

Given that the insurance company is involved, they would look to recover some of their own costs from the tenant as the third party cause of the "malicious damage". Claims like this bang up the cost of insurance (for everyone) and clearly it's up to Oki to balance the time/effort involved in trying to personally recoup any shortfall in what it costs to repair the damage. I'd agree that it is important to get the house re-let to decent tenants asap ( because the majority are decent) , but some of the other points were mentioned in Olly's post further back, in particular:

olly300 wrote: »

However you are unlikely to get the money back but you can get a CCJ against him which will harm his future ability to get credit. This is particularly damaging for the normal person and more so if you are self-employed.
.

clutton_2

""However you are unlikely to get the money back but you can get a CCJ against him which will harm his future ability to get credit."

this does not help OP one jot - it may make him feel better for a little while, but, it wont necessarily pay for any of the damage done to his property.

and yes, i might advise a tenant having difficulty getting a deposit back to drop it and move on - DEPENDING on the individual circumstances.

Sometimes, chasing a relatively small sum is not worth the hassle and time and energy it takes to jump thru all the legal hoops

of course its not right - it will never be right - its theft/criminal damage - but occasionally the bigger picture is what counts - sometimes you have to think "life's too short" - sadly we all get scammed somewhere in this life .........

Rosemary7391

It might not help the OP, but it'll help the next landlord of the tenant in question, won't it? And it may put people off trying a similar move. How big does a crime have to be before it's worth chasing?

Snooze

I agree with clutton on the whole.

One of my properties got trashed and I went down the same route you are oki, but it's just such a load of time and hassle that it's not worth it, especially when you don't see anything like what you're owed at the end of it (if anything at all).

My own experiences of dealing with loss adjuster's is something I'd suggest people avoid at all costs. You've got to remember that they're working on behalf of the insurance company, not you, and so they're in each others pockets. It's the loss adjuster's job to remove as many items as possible from your claim list and they will do this primarily by arguing "general wear and tear" to everything. You've really got to stand your ground with them otherwise you'll end up with a cheque for £2.50 arriving "in full and final settlement" of your £10k claim.

Rob

PayDay

tbs624 wrote: »

What happens then is that the LL maybe looks at raising his/her rent to the next potential tenant to try to recoup some of that loss .....

That is not good advice if oki then gets a few months void because of that rise.

He might never make up his loss from new tenants and then will have to drop the rent again to attract a tenant. No sense in oki adding to his financial problems.

oki_2

thanks all for keeping my thread going!!!

AS for me I am covered for rent whilst my house is reinstated to its former glory, this will ease the financial burden. I will pursue the tenant because he has admitted to leaving the property in its current state and I have to try and cover my uninsured losses. I will wtire to him and send an estimate and give him 7days to respond. If he does not then I will politely inform him of intention to take an advertisment out in the local paper and naming and shaming him (am assuming this can be done) as well as informing CORGI of his 'work' in my house even though it has nothing to do with them.

If all this fails I will put it down to experience and get on with life.