UK Landlord Forum / Life

After a tenant's deposit has been returned,I am still owed a few hundred arrears,plus costs of replacing missing items and cleaning (agent says I can charge the latter at £10ph provided I enclose the photos) I would usually chalk this up to experience,but  the tenant lied to get approved, I am pretty sure he has done this before,and I am hoping a CCJ will stop others having the same trouble.He is in full-time employment as far as I know.

I would be grateful to know if I am going about this in the correct way;

I will send itemised bill to his forwarding address,I gather from this forum I should send 2 separate letters,different post offices,proof of postage? Or should I deliver by hand and try to give to him or his parents?

I will give 14 days to settle before if necessary going online to small claims court.Does one charge interest on the unpaid rent part of the amount (dates back to May last year) If so,is it true that  8% is the usual rate?  Thanks for any guidance.
 

You can't charge for your own time.

Please can you ask the Agent where they have got that information (£10 per hour) from and then share that with us?

Don't do it just because you think it's the right thing to do. Sued someone myself years ago more for the principle than the money and it was a particularly thankless task even though I won. It left me feeling drained after jumping through so many hoops. Still it prepared me well for a life in property management

Hippogriff-I have emailed him and asked what the legal guidelines are,will post his response.Browsing online, there is little definite information either way.The sum of £10ph is based on what the contractors would have charged me.Is there some legislation you base your comment on,or have you found out the hard way?

David M-I do know what you mean.I am not going to martyr myself or invest much.It's just that there are so many people-not just tenants-who seem to sail blithely through life leaving chaos behind them,safe in the knowledge that no one will make the effort to chase them.He caused me sleepless nights,and I feel sorry for the next poor sod he exploits.

You absolutely cannot charge a Tenant what you reckon a Contractor would have charged you. Different Contractors charge different amounts... who controls which one you would choose? You could've chosen the one that would've charged you £7 per hour, but - instead - you chose to go with the one that charges £17 per hour... what are you going to charge the Tenant and how would you ever be able to justify that?

If you are paying yourself, are you also going to declare that as profit?

If you are doing the work yourself, how would you prove how many hours you spent on it?

Best to assign the work legitimately to a company / person and get an invoice.

You can claim for materials if you're doing the work yourself, of course... travel costs too.

I gather then that this is not writ in stone,but best avoided if you don't want to give the miscreant a loophole.Shame-the toilet alone involved 3 visits,I could have been quids in.I would have ordinarily had the work done and asked agent to deduct from deposit.In this case the latter did not even cover the arrears.Thank you for the guidance.

Wouldn't it be lovely for there to be an accepted rate that a Landlord could use to charge for their time... I could be getting myself £15 an hour for doing some repainting or what-not. You said it right when you commented that you could've been quids-in... I guess this is why it's not an accepted practice. Please be wary of your Agent's advice.

One of the last cases I took to DPS arbitration involved a claim for carpet cleaning where the landlords were unable to get a firm to clean in time for new tenants to move in so hired a carpet cleaning machine and did it themselves. The arbitrator allowed the full cost of the machine and the £40 we claimed for the landlords time in doing it. We argued that the cost of a full carpet clean was £150 and we were only claiming just over £100 so the claim was successful. It must be said though that the arbitrator may have been swayed by the arrogance of the tenant who didn't see why he needed to pay for professional carpet cleaning after living in a house for two years with a dog!