UK Landlord Forum / Life

Bit of advice please.....Unfortunately I have a bad tenant that has left the property but owes £1,250.00.  She is not replying or acknowledging payment demands and false promises of payment is happening regularly .

Is the cheapest way of attempting to get the money back to go down the small claims court root?  Yes I understand I could just wipe this as a bad debt but since her leaving I have found out this is a regular occurrence and has done this to other landlords!

She has to be STOPPED! 

Thanks

My Advice.... Move on.

Seriously, it is not worth it.

Yup, from my experience,  small claims court is the way to do it.

I would personally pursue it.

Opinions!

Everyone has one.

I get too stressed with this sort of thing, it eats at me all the time, so I think for my health I am best leaving it, but if personally you can deal with it, then I suppose its worth it.

I used to work for someone who used to say (almost daily).  Opinions are like arse holes. Everyone has one.

Made me smile anyway :-)

I would ask myself the question "If someone pinched £1450 from from my bank account would I do something about?" Answer, "Yes"

IMO !!! This is pretty much the same. The money is in the tenants account and not yours.

For the feeling of satisfaction I would make the claim. Money Claim online is a simple process, however only worth it monetarily if the tenant is going to have the means to pay, or have goods worth seizure and sale.

Thanks everyone for your advice! much appreciated 

As others have mentioned I would also advise the small claims route, a small price to pay if you ask me. I would use the governments own Money Claim Online service which is very simple to use and cheaper than going into court yourself.

Here is a video with some guidance: http://thesheriffsoffice.com/high-court-enforcement/obtaining-judgment

And here is a guide which covers recovering the rent arrears: http://thesheriffsoffice.com/articles/free-landlords-guide-to-evicting-tenants-debt-collection

I would add that it is imperative that you issue against the correct party at the correct address. If they need to be traced most debt recovery/enforcement companies will offer this service also.

sorry, just an off topic question, if a tenant has left your property do you have to have their new address to take them to small claims court? how do you get their address if they don't provide it?

In truth yes.

If they are not correctly served with the claim it is very easy for them to set the judgment aside.

However, many landlords issue proceedings after they have left (incorrectly if I'm honest) and not all are set aside.

The main issue is finding where your tenant went. We have the best tracing software available but even then it is usually at least 6 months before somebody pops up on the radar.

My personal advice would be to wait and diarise a trace in 6 months. You can then issue the claim correctly and will have a better chance of successful recovery.

As sheriff says, money claim on line is good. I've used it successfully BUT it has no teeth as you have to follow thru yourself. I do it for the satisfaction of a possible CCJ against the tenant. It sounds vindictive but after 15 years of ........... tenants, you get like that!