Landlord nightmare!

[khronus]

Hi folks, this happened sometime ago ( over a year ) but is still ongoing. We had spotted a house to let and went to check it out. We viewed it and liked it although there was some work being done on the place. We agreed as long as the work was complete by the move in date we would have it and we paid a deposit of one months rent and also ( stupidly ) 2 months rent up front. When the time to move in came I went upa day early to check and the palce was still not complete although the landlord was happy it was it was obvious loads of stuff was half done. We told him we did not want to move in and that we wanted our money back. Although he had not completed the work we told him he could keep the deposit due to short notice but that ew wanted the 2 months rent that we paid up front back again. He refused to pay us a penny.

This happened sometime ago and we have gone through the courts and we have judgement in our favour but we still cant get any money of him. He knows the scoreand has prob been in trouble before. We have an attachment of earnings order out against him but they wont file it under his own property address as he does not reside there( the palce we were going to let ). The place he lives ( or used to live ) was his partners house and shes telling the bailiffs that he does not live there anymore ( probably untrue but a possibility ). There is no point getting a warrant of execution either as he can probably say all his valuables belong to his partner.

The bailiffs were helpful and told me I need to dosome 'detective' work on him and get some photo's of what he looks like, and try and place him at an address. Does anyone have any experience of this or any idea's on getting this evil man to pay up ! It was close to £2000!


K

[rbrears]

If he has any money then a statutory demand will probably result in him giving you what you owe. Not even sheisters like him will want to be made bankrupt. Get some legal advice about serving a statutory demand based on the judgment you have.

[khronus]

Hi, thanks so much for your reply. I have never heard of a statutory demand before, could you elaborate ? What is it? can I do one? Where do I go to issue it ? The courts have not made me aware of this course of action either.


K

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

khronus,in my view:

1.Find out about the ownership of the property that you were planning to rent out and if it is his, register a "caution"/charge on the property.

2.As as long as you have the judgement in your favour,this is the cheapest and in my view the most effective way of seeing that he pays you.This judgement document must be presented to HM Land Registry Office in order to do this for you.

3.He will not be able to sell the property or borrow against it without seeing that you are paid.

4.Making him bankrupt would be more expensive.

5.As long as "The Proprietorship" is in his name this is the best way forward.

6.He has a right to be notified and hopefully at that stage he will pay.


Anyway,I hope you find this information useful.

If you need any more help,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[rbrears]

You can't just send a county court judgment to the land registry and ask them to enter a notice or restriction against the property. (cautions were scrapped quite some time ago). The reason is that you have to demonstrate to the LR that you have an interest in the land and this is not achieved by virtue of a simple CCJ.

If you want to charge his property then get copies of the land register for the property in question (you can do so on the land Registry online site). Then if he is the registered proprietor you will have to make a further application to the court for a charging order. Only after that has been granted by the court can you register the charge against the land because the court order gives you the interest in the land that you need to have to have the debt attach to property.

If he is a joint proprietor of the property then any charging order will be of very limited effect. Any charging order in those circumstances is only against his beneficial equitable ownership and not the legal title and the land registry can only enter a limited type of restriction against his share of the land and which only permits you to be informed if the property has been sold - not much use to you. If he is the sole proprietor then a charging order will be against the legal title of the land and he will have to pay it off if he sells in order to give a clean title to the purchaser.

Be aware that you can get a charging order over a few different types of property - land, shares, etc and of course it can be any property that he owns, not just the property you rented. Whats his address for service on the tenancy agreement? That might be his home - you could charge against that if you wished.

I suggested serving a statutory demand, not making him bankrupt. The SD is the first step in bankruptcy. It is a 4 page A4 document that can be completed in 10 minutes. It is served personally on the debtor but can only be used if the debt is not disputed and is unsecured. Once this is served the debtor has 21 days to pay or offer security for the debt - otherwise you are entitled to issue a bankruptcy petition - but you do not have to. My point was that if a debtor gets an SD if he has the money this usually produces it. If it does not then you have to consider that he doesn;'t have it or is so much in debt he would welcome someone making him bankrupt to give him protection from you and all his other creditors.

Serving an SD is cheap and quick and often gets results. If it doesn't then think about a charging order. As I said - take advice from a lawyer or the CAB about your options to enforce the judgment by these and other methods. You might be able to get a free half hour consultation with a local firm of solicitors, or legal advice and assistance if you qualify for legal aid (thats the old name for it, can't remember the new one).

Hope this helps.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Khronus -
The main thing I wanted to point out is that without the CCJ it would not be possible to persue in this manner.

Also,I have used the word "caution" for familiarity purposes.

I have never had to go down any of these routes to get money.

However I had a client a few years ago who did not pay off a CCJ.

So he had an interest in the property registered against him.I assisted this client to raise money against his property to pay the CCJ amount off first and then release equity for his personal use.

So,it is not essential that the property is sold in order to release the equity.

In the end,the person who got the CCJ against my client was paid in full and prior to my client receiving any monies.

So,in conclusion apart from what rbrears suggested it is a means to acheive your goal in getting your money because it does work.A secure but potentially slower process - this of course depends on how willing and prepared your ex-landlord is to cough up what is owed to you.


Anyway,I hope you find this information useful.

If you need any more help,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[khronus]

Thanks folks, I've just got the land register with his name on it ! Wooooooooo! Am just waiting for the courts to open at 10 am and then I will be asking for their furthur guidance in this.


I am not so keen on a SD because I have a feeling he wont mind being made bankrupt, he probably has more than one ****ed of person after him and that would ruin it for them also.


K

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Khronus,

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[khronus]

Ok...Looks like I can go ahead and do it, I had to pay £2 to download the land register from the land registry website, it had his name on it which is good news. Now I have to go into the courts with that printed land register and it will cost me £55, then I have to register the house for another fee of £40. All these charges can be added to the debt thats put against the property. So good sign is its a sure fire way of getting back the full amount 'at some point, maybe 1 month maybe 20 years ! Whenever he sells up ). The bad news is its yet another fee to get my own money back

I also checked as to whether it stopped me from pursueing him in any other way for them oney and it does not, which is good as I have an attachment of earning order thats 'trying' to be served on him.



K

[kevb0444]

Does the slim ball have a car? If so get a pic of him using it or get the reg number, the court bailiffs should be able to take it. They should be able to run the plates to see if he owns the car, if so they can take it.

[shuttleworth96]

Please, please tell me what happened! This could be my story exactly - we even have the same "Landlord nightmare"!!!!!!!!!!!! It was spooky reading this thread, it could even BE the same landlord.

[khronus]

Hey folks,

Well, since I last posted on this I had a hearing and had a charging order permantly put on his house. This means that he cant sell it or re-mortgage without paying us back. Unfortunatly ( or not so really ) a few weeks ago we got a letter from the courts saying the landlord was appealing this decision. We had not a single response from him in almost 2 years since the outset and now he finds he will actually lose some money he has decieded to fight it ( slimebag ! ),...and drag me back to court. This is in the next week this appeal hearing will take place and fortunately everything is still in our favour and it may allow us to get our money back a little quicker.
I will let you know how things go after they have happened, i'm somewhat anxious and stressed by it but at the end of the day all I have to do is turn up, tell the truth and whatever else happens after that regardless of my thoughts is the judges decision,


K

[khronus]

If you have any specific questinos shuttle please just ask ( or PM me )I will be happy to tell you things as I understand them.