Claiming rent arrears in County Court

[metalrat]

Hi

I had a tenant who just upped and left without notice owing £800.00 rent

I found her new address through asking around and also her new mobile number

She said she would drop off the keys with a letter explaining she was vacating

This she did also stating that she would pay for the removal of the accumulated rubbish

She also said she would pay installments for the owed rent

I agreed, however no back rent has been forthcoming so I wrote to her 2 weeks ago to which she didn't bother responding, I phoned and got the answerphone everytime.

I have now decided that my best course would probably be to take her to the County Court for rent arrears and clearance costs

I have prepared a letter to her which will be posted explaining I have already written to her and this is now a letter before action giving her 14 days to respond

I am however not sure what to put on the N1 claim form when that point is reached any advice about wording would be appreciated ie Accordingly the claiment claims etc....

Obviously I can't give out too much information in this thread

 

Thank you

[BankFodder]

Don't worry too much about the words

Simply say that there was a tenancy contract And that you are claiming for arrears of rent. Give the dates for which you're claiming also say that you are claiming for expenses of clearing and give that figure as well.

You can do all of this quickly on Line

[mariner51]

Is the ex T still living at the new address you found and does she have TA/HB for that property?

Have you inspected the property since her presumed vacation of T?

If she has not submitted a valid NTQ, then you can claim the T continues. If the owed rent now exceeds 2 months in cash terms, the quickest (and safest) route for you would be a S8 repo action against her with a claim for rent. IMO

 

Then your claim could be for rent up to date of repo order executed plus T damages inc rubbish clearance.

 

I hope you have not disposed of her 'rubbish' yet. without her permission, as you have a duty to keep it safe for up to 3 mo to await collection. Tech if you entered the property without due Notice & removed Ts property without permission, that could be construed as 'illegal eviction'.

 

Find her, get her to give you signed NTQ backdated to expire date she left and money for arrears of rent up to that date.

Edited October 20, 2012 by mariner51

[metalrat]

She sent a text to me as a NTQ, the rubbish issue was brought up by her in that text where she asked me to dispose of it and bill her, this was before I knew there was any rubbish.

I only realised she had left initially because her neighbor mentioned that she had been moving furniture out

When I went to investigate, the front door was unlocked, I called around for a few days whilst making enquiries and the door was left unlocked for over a week

I know the law about entering so I never went over the threshold even though I could see the house was void of furniture through the windows

My partner is an ARLA qualified member so we are aware of the tenants rights

regarding the damage issue raised in the last post, yes there is/was damage 2 holes in the walls to name but one issue which had to be repaired and redecorated of course

fortunately I am capable of doing these things

The thing is I have had to work 2 weeks on bringing the house back up to standard for occupancy again

I am not pursuing costs for these issues as I would redecorate between tenancies as a matter of course anyway however it did cost more in time than it usually would

I believe all tenants are not alike and I have some very good tenants who would vouch for my care of the homes they live in, unfortunately this leaves me open to abuse by some