UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi I have filed court papers under section 8 after my tenant was persistently late since April and had finally become 2 months behind. Can i add he actually text me to say he was not going to pay another penny and he was doing it on purpose. When I say late I mean he was one month behind since April and then finally went 2 months behind. He also has not been looking after the property properly and has allowed it to fall into disrepair. Anyway he has now paid after receiving the papers. Can I still continue the court procedure for eviction due to the persistently late and the fact he has not looked after the property and it has been damaged. Or do I have to accept losing £280 in court fees and he stays in the house?

thanks in advance.

Hi,

Since he has paid, I doubt the Judge will evict him. Judge's generally take the tenant's side in these situations, because they don't want to make anyone homeless! I wouldn't bother trying to pursue it, personally. Waste of time.

You could try and recoup the money from the deposit.

When does the tenancy end? If not too far away, I would go down the s21 route!

Thanks for that gutted! His Tenancy ends on the 28th January and I recently sent him the section 21 anyway. The thing is he wouldn't be homeless as he owns a house that he rents out to others and also owns a guest house. WIth regards to the bond with the damage he has done I would still be out of pocket. Can i pursue a claim for expenses? And with the fact he wouldn't be homeless do you think it might still be worth me pursuing it?

thanks again.

You CAN carry on the case and ask the Judge for your reasonable costs in bringing the action.  You have paid to start the action, even if it is dismissed because he has paid you can ask for your costs as it was his lack of payment that caused you to bring the action in the first place.  If you do not cancel the proceedings they will be heard, the tenant may or may not turn up, he may petition the court to cancel the case but you can ask that it is still heard for the matter of costs.

You can submit the text as part of your papers to show a deliberate and vexatious attempt to create costs for you, it will be in your favour if you served notice of intention to take action in accordance with procedures.  You have to give him copies of anything you submit as evidence so it will show your hand.  If he does not turn up there is nothing stopping you saying to the Judge "I am sorry that the tenant has forced me to waste your time, but he is doing this deliberately" and show him the text

The security deposit is held against damages and whatever is specified in the lease, you have to get a Court Order to take anything else from it, you could ask the Court for authority to deduct costs in the event that by the time tenancy is ended the tenant has not paid the costs awarded by the Court.  They may say the costs have to be assessed and agreed if you ask for too much, so asking only for the Court fee means you are likely to get an instant decision on costs.

Of Course by the end of the tenancy you may have arrears and it sounds like you might have some rights for deposit deductions if they were covered in your agreement.  The key thing now is to make sure your PI was done properly so that the S21 can't be kicked out.

Thank you so much Rick I feel a lot more positive now. I will follow your suggestion. As it happens we have already sent all the text and facebook messages the tenant posted. Including the one were he would only pay if I were to dress in an ape costume and dance all acts of swan lake. I will let you all know how I go on the 10th November.

thanks again

How did you send text to court I have lots of awful text from my tenant will they read them and also police reference numbers can you send them.