UK Landlord Forum / Life

Dear All

I am in the process of negotiating a deposit return with an outgoing tenant.  The deposit is unprotected as it was taken when the tenancy started which was prior to 6th April 2007.  I have listed the items for damages which we are currently working through, but there is another expense that I want to retrieve and I would value your opinions on how to proceed.  The tenant appears to have been running businesses from the property (in breach of the tenancy agreement).  I found this out as after months of returning mail to sender, the envelopes started to be marked urgent do not ignore, and on opening a couple of letters I found them to be from companies/agencies chasing debts for companies illegally registered at the address by the tenant.  I have had to take action to ensure these debts are not associated with the property or current tenant. I have kept returning this mail to the sender but the mail is still coming to the property.  It has taken a fair portion of my workday time to call companies and debt collecting agencies.  Is it feasible to hold a sum of money for my time and cost of phone calls from the deposit?  As background, the tenant was disruptive to neighbours and was and continues to be threatening to me in e-mails etc.  I have also had to take legal proceedings against this tenant prior to this to collect unpaid rent, so I see it unlikely to be able to retrieve this sum otherwise.   

Many thanks.

No, it's not feasible.

What rate would you charge for your time? Therein lies the problem.