HELP - tenant has done a moon light flit

pickles110564

oki wrote: »

Hi all

I have browsed the forum for a long time but never posted - till now that is.

My house was let for two years and now he has vanished. I rang him and he said he had left key with a neighbour - that all that needed doing in the house was the vaccuum.

Not the case when I got there. The dog has fouled everywhere, the house stinks and there is alot of rubbish, debt collector letters, damaged internal and external doors, curtains torn..........and plenty more.

This tenant has recently become CORGI registered and I have managed to get his new address from CORGI website. I am not sure how best to proceed. Any suggestions will be most welcome. And thanks for reading.

Oki

Sorry to read what you have been through but it happens quite a lot.
We thought we were doing some tenants a favour by letting them keep their two dogs.
What a mistake, it was left in a stinky mess and after the new tenants had moved in we then found out the place was infected with fleas.

oki_2

Hi Pickles110564 - what did you do when you found yourself in a similar situation? I am unsure whether it needs to be reported to the police - I feel they will just laugh at me........

izzybusy23

oki wrote: »

Hi all

I have browsed the forum for a long time but never posted - till now that is.

My house was let for two years and now he has vanished. I rang him and he said he had left key with a neighbour - that all that needed doing in the house was the vaccuum.

Not the case when I got there. The dog has fouled everywhere, the house stinks and there is alot of rubbish, debt collector letters, damaged internal and external doors, curtains torn..........and plenty more.

This tenant has recently become CORGI registered and I have managed to get his new address from CORGI website. I am not sure how best to proceed. Any suggestions will be most welcome. And thanks for reading.

Oki

I just want to say that, although I am not a great fan of the BTL brigade, I am appalled that somebody could leave a rented house in such a state. I really think you should take all pictures, keep all receipts of work you have to undertake to put the property right, document any contact you have with the tenant and persue him through the courts.

Good luck!

mlz1413

Get photographic evidence and list all rooms as suggested by others, then get the inventory out and write out a new one room by room stating what is missing and damaged and cost each item out putting totals per room.

Then write to him at new address (I used to send one recorded and if not signed for in a week send another through post - people in trouble won't usually sign for post!) saying as he didn't give notice you take the phone call of X date saying key with neighbour to be his one months notice, list out rent due and attach a copy of the inventory showing the total for cleaning and repairs. Add a note that re-decoration and replacement of carpets and furnishings will be approx £X. Give him 28 days to pay in full or say that legal action will be taken.

You don't need to use a solicitor, if you have to money then it will add weight to the seriousness but can be costly with no guarantee of receiving any money back.

Who was your witness on the tenancy? Anything to do with tenant? Do you have any contact addresses for his parents / relatives? Only asking as you need to keep track of this guy to have any hope of getting money from him, you're in a good postion because of his Corgi status but I would be tracking down any leads you have now just incase you need them later.

Good Luck

oki_2

Thanks mlz1413 for your helpful suggestions. I have just called a guy who will go through the whole house room by room and write down what needs doing and total cost.

My solicitor will charge £100 for writing a letter - I will ask him to do this and add it to tenants bill once I have compiled a list (long) of all thats needed to get property back to former glory!

I have references from previous landlord - who happended to be his friend and his phone number is no longer available.

I am going tonight to take photographs of the house in its current state. What a nightmare - I only became a landlord because I could not sell the house at the time.

lil_me

Sorry to hear you have had to deal with this, I rent and personally wouldn't consider leaving a property without it being immaculate. Unfortunately our most recent move it was us who had to do the clearing up, repairing and dealing with fleas after the LL left them as a present for us.

prudryden

oki wrote: »

Thanks nobblyned - no the inventory is not signed - would that be a problem?

Could be a potential problem. How do you prove what condition the place was in immediately prior to the letting?

*jobags*

Do the debt collectors know his current location?

Perhaps you could advise them of his whereabouts, after all why should the rest of us pay for these defaulters?

Not that you've interfered with his post of course, the letters accidentally sheared open while being pushed through the letterbox - postmen can be so clumsy :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I work in social housing and this sort of thing is one of the main reasons why I shied away from BTL - I know too many of the pitfalls and scams - and believe me, this is minor - at least he's left of his own accord

Mind you - the pitfalls and scams work both ways....

Good luck

Jo

Tassotti

prudryden wrote: »

Could be a potential problem. How do you prove what condition the place was in immediately prior to the letting?

Major problem!!!!

No inventory signed...no recourse....

Move on and learn from your mistake

Somerset

Just sort the house out - clean,repair,replace and prepare it for next let.

As for ex-tenant, don't waste a lot on legal, you may well not get it back. I had a very similar situation to you including the flea's. I still have the photo's in case. It's great in theory that you can sue the ex-tenant but in practice probably isn't worth the money and effort. Even if you can track the ex down ( you need a current address to serve ) the warning signs are, debt collector letters and unpaid utilities. He probably hasn't got the money so even if you get judgement you'll probably get nothing in practice.