UK Landlord Forum / Life

I've had my BTL 12 years now and never experienced anything like this.
Tenant has vacated and left our once immaculately presented one bedroom town house
Completely uninhabitable.
Rotting food, flies everywhere, refuse piled up in nearly every room nearly ceiling high.
You can barely move in there.
No words I could use would ever adequately describe the horror of this.
He has left a £600 deposit which won't scratch the surface.
During his tenancy he lost his job and went onto benefits.
I know with this in mind I might be at a dead end in terms of compensation but this is more a matter of principle and I'd like to get him slapped with a CCJ.
The threat of this might also motivate him to reimburse us for the costs.
Any advice gratefully received.

Just roll your sleeves up and get it cleaned up and re-let ASAP. In my experience chasing money through the courts off of people on benefits is just throwing good money after bad, and I would guess he has a shed load of ccjs:(

Either you want to get a CCJ because it's a matter of principle, or you think there's a reasonable chance of you recovering the money owed now or in the future. Decide if either of those apply to you and that'll give you an answer as to whether you should go ahead or not.

Quote from: Allybops on October 01, 2019, 02:56:15 PM
Just roll your sleeves up and get it cleaned up and re-let ASAP. In my experience chasing money through the courts off of people on benefits is just throwing good money after bad, and I would guess he has a shed load of ccjs:(

I'd love to roll up my sleeves but unfortunately a few months ago me an the wife moved 300 miles away to be live in carers for my dad.
My wife's popped down for a couple of days to do what she can.
So it seems to me that there are plenty of laws to protect tenants, but not so much vice versa.
It just seems wrong so I'm going after him.

The law does seem to favour the tenants Very much, although I guess the tenants won't agree! Just try not to take it too personally or it can eat you up.
Good luck

The law is quite well balanced.

None of what is described in the first post seems to render the property "completely uninhabitable"... maybe the OP is prone to over-reaction and exaggeration? This seems like you'd be OK employing a firm to do a complete top-to-bottom clean... £600 could easily get you there, depending on where it is, what company you choose. The Landlord living 300 miles away is a problem of theirs, really (although entirely understandable). There's a difference between mess and damage... what's described here seems like mess. I've experienced a bunch of bad stuff... most recently in September this year... I spent 3 solid days cleaning... didn't want to employ a company... wanted it done properly... bought a £14.99 mummy-style sleeping bag from Argos (same day delivery, all-in was £19) so that I could sleep there... and not touch anything. I used 8 packs of wet-wipes... my guns were massive at the end! I then let the property on the second viewing (in 2 days after finishing cleaning).

Over reacting
Are you f***ing serious.

I've had messy before but this is on another level.
Suggest if you can't offer any constructive advice and base your judgement on evidence you haven't seen, stay away from commenting.
Conclusions based on assumptions are Idiotic and of no help

Your anger won't help you.

Pay someone to clear the place out and get it earning money again. That should be your first priority.

Then, if you still want to blow your cash on a gesture, at least you've got a concrete figure to claim for.

Quote from: AndyS on October 02, 2019, 02:57:24 PM
Over reacting
Are you f***ing serious.

I've had messy before but this is on another level.
Suggest if you can't offer any constructive advice and base your judgement on evidence you haven't seen, stay away from commenting.
Conclusions based on assumptions are Idiotic and of no help

Your description - "Rotting food, flies everywhere, refuse piled up in nearly every room nearly ceiling high. You can barely move in there." - there's no mention of any damage or anything broken - just mess. Get a grip! This is part-and-parcel of end of tenancy clean-ups... some are better than others. You can't just curl up into a ball and cry in a corner about it. You have to step-up and start work. Just sitting there, carping to strangers on a forum, isn't going to get you going again. If you've had messy before then this sounds like just the Next Level... get cracking, stop whining. I based my judgement on your own words - if you had said walls were missing, appliances were gone, the boiler had been nicked, there weren't any windows left... different level, right? You're just losing-it and lashing out at others because you're not capable of handling the situation... but you must... or pay someone to do it for you... whatever the answer is - the work must start.

Less of the swearing please - or you'll be banned. Just kidding, we don't mind at all...

One of my earliest tenants staged a "dirty campaign" in the days before eviction.The place had been recarpeted,painted,new kitchen etc.a year before.He and some junkie mates urinated over all carpets,beds,and curtains.Crap was smeared all over the walls and windowpanes,and electrical fittings smashed.The specialist cleaning manager phoned,said he felt furious on my behalf.I had lost a lot of sleep and money,but his sympathy helped.You will come to terms with this,and move on.I wish I had got the little creep a CCJ,and it may well help you just to know you could be saving another landlord the same ordeal.You could do without this at the moment,and I don't think it is weak to have a rant,then get on with it.Good Luck!       

It's horrible when this happens, especially completely out of the blue - you have my every sympathy. From experience, the Courts always favour the Tenants so as a Landlord you're already down whether you have the best most clear cut evidence laden case in the world. It will cost money to take any case to Court and even if you are successful, if the person has no money, how can you be paid back? Almost impossible as it may seem now, save your energy and cut your losses and gett your property back on the market. All the best.