Rent Arrears - No word from ex-tenant

[crem]

I was renting a house out with the tenant being in it since Sept 07. They were pretty much always in rent arrears to varying amounts and finally sent a formal letter of notice on 8th Dec 08 to leave by 31st Jan 09. We had had verbal discussions regarding them leaving and it was they who first said they couldn't carry on therefore it was a fairly ammicable eviction. The main purpose of the formal letter was to help them with any council negociations etc for getting a new house.

 

Council told them they should have 2 full calendar months to eviction so could take beyond 31st Jan if they wanted. That was by-the-by and I could have lived with that although I offered a number of (financial) sweeteners to meet the 31st Jan deadline.

 

In the end I got a phone call from them on the evening of 31st Jan saying they had moved out. This was the first I knew about it so it was a bit of a shock! Anyway, they said they would ring later that week once sorted in their new council house to discuss paying the (over £5,000) rent arrears off. Surprise surprise, after 6 weeks I heard nothing dispite leaving a number of messages on the only mobile phone number I have for them.

 

I have sent another formal letter by recorded delivery asking that they contact me urgently which was delivered last week. Anticipating getting no response from my further letter, what is my next course of action? Obvously I am not keen to run up further debts by having to pay solicitors and court costs which still might not get me any money at the end, but equally over £5,000 rent owed is too much for me to ignore as well.

 

Any advise please of how to proceed.

[crem]

Guess most CAG members here are tenants rather than landlords.

[labrat]

crem there is both on here give it a little time unfortunatly theres experts on here but not 24/7

 

in the mean time i would suggest that if you have there address not to pay a personal visit as it could easly get out of hand

 

someone should be along to confirm but i belave that if its about 5k your claiming it may be able to be done through small claims rather than county court - wait for someone to confirm because im not sure on the limits, im not legal trained myself mostly learning by reading other threads and whats been said

 

if you do plan to take them to court you probably need to send a letter before action first, send it recorded delivery as then you have electronic proof of signiture off royal mails website, dont send this unless you intend to carry it through

[callumsgran]

I'm a tenant

I'm with labrat, go in with a LBA, they've had ample time to get in touch and they're obviously treating what they owe you as top priority

Lucky them, getting a council property, i couldn't get one

Where are you based, just curious?

[crem]

crem there is both on here give it a little time unfortunatly theres experts on here but not 24/7

 

Thanks for that labrat. Wasn't trying to be impatient but I spend most of my time in CAG in the Parking forum and threads tend to move rather quickly in there.

 

Rent due is actually just over £5,600 so might preclude me from going small claims route.

 

callumsgran, the property is in Wear Valley area, near Durham.

Edited March 25, 2009 by crem

[callumsgran]

Thanks for that labrat. Wasn't trying to be impatient but I spend most of my time in CAG in the Parking forum and threads tend to move rather quickly in there.

 

Rent due is actually just over £5,600 so might preclude me from going small claims route.

 

callumsgran, the property is in Wear Valley area, near Durham.

lol maybe i should move up there

i do love geordie accents

[crem]

Still no word from ex-tenants. I guess it's looking like the solicitor route now is it then?

[Planner]

Still no word from ex-tenants. I guess it's looking like the solicitor route now is it then?

 

 

What other route is there?

 

You could begin small claims action without a solicitor if you feel confident enough.