UK Landlord Forum / Life

Finder Monkey .com is about £100 does anyone know of any other service other than facebook and 192.  That can locate ex tenants for cheaper.  Or better yet, anyone know what methods (that we can use legally) these tracking companies use to locate people.

Thanks guys.

I presume you have to have someones address to take them to court to recover the monies?  Surely the finders fee would form part of your claim when it gets there ergo in the long run wouldn't cost you anything? 

Are you close to the property in question?  Do you know where the ex tenant works?  Could you follow them home from work one day/night?

The easy way to win a small claim is to do a money claim online and have it sent to the tenants old address. Obviously they wont receive the court papers as they no longer live there so landlord wins a ccj.
Next problem is locating, enforcing, and collecting. The tenant has moved without a trace and the court needs their new address in order to send in the bailiffs. Most fly by night tenants don't even bother with electoral roll nonsense and the council will not let landlords know their whereabouts, unless you know an insider.  So now we come to a dead end unless we pay Findermonkey their £100.
It seems that in many cases the cost of filing a ccj and ordering the bailiff outweigh the amount that could be collected anyway. So is it really worth the hassle.
Most of these tenants dont have a pot to piss in.
I do have a tenant that owes a considerable amount and managed to put a hefty deposit down on a mortgage during her eviction process. Yeh, my rent money.  So now i have to fork out another £300 for a charging order.
I will get paid eventually.