tenant owes money

[deano_uk]

hi, i became an accidental landlord. i couldnt sell the house so i changed to a BUY TO LET mortgage so i could rent the house to tenants.

 

my neighbor rented a room from me. he was claiming housing benefit. he gave this money without fail although sometimes he was £5 or £10 short, i just overlooked that even though i needed everything to pay the mortgage.

 

my parents became ill so i moved away. the tenant then stopped paying me money, when he was £360 in arrears, i called to the house. he just burst out crying and said "sorry dean im a selfish person and i will make this up to you"

 

the second time i called to the house, he was £600 in arrears. i called the same day i knew he would get his housing benefit money. he gave me £100, bringing the total arrears down to £500

 

when the arrears became £980.00, i then called to the house and he wouldnt answer the door. i knew he was in as i saw him looking out at the window at me. i waited until he opened the door to take his dog for a walk and then got into the house! i spoke with him and he told me the money was with a friend and he was on his way to get it. needless to say, he never returned.

 

 

since he did a runner, i phoned him at his mothers house. he told me i can take him to court as i am not getting a penny out of him! he even told me that as there were no receipts, it was my word against his.

 

This guy was a neighbor / friend. When i was living in the house with him, he would eat my food, i would lend him money etc etc. he owes me far more than £980

 

I know he does not have a job and he has only benefits due to him being sick. if i take him to court for this, what do i need to do?

he has no assets, even if i did take him to court and won, how would i then enforce that he pays me?

 

ive been too lenient with him and would just love to send him court bailiffs at his mothers house. but as far as i know, he has nothing of any value.

 

any advice please? i had to borrow the £900 from family and friends to cover his debt and to repay the mortgage. this is money i cant afford to lose.......

 

thanks!

[mariner51]

Confused.

You are the property owner.

You rented a room to your neighbour whilst you were the occupier Poss rent a Room basis

Was any verbal contract agreed giving neighbour lodger status or or AST with resident LL (lock on Ts room for exclusive possession)

You previously? converted mortgage to B2L to enable renting to Ts, (not reqd for lodgers) so how did you become an 'accidental LL'

You later voluntarily 'moved out' so tech no longer a resident LL When?

How did 'neighbour' pay rent cash, cheque, bank transfer?

A verbal TA exists IMO but lack of paperwork could be a problem unless you can provide a bank statement for deposit of payment.

Since T has vacated and there is no likelihood of 'unlawful eviction'. your concern is with monies owed

Only route seems to be SCC claim for debt and registration of resulting CCJ

You may not get your money but CCJ will adversely affect his credit rating for 6 yrs

Other approaches may be advvised

[deano_uk]

hi mariner,

i had a job outisde UK and as i couldn't sell the house in time, i switched it to BTL so i could rent it out, thats why i became an accidental landlord. this was some years ago and it has been a BTL ever since.

 

he had an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement and would pay his rent to me in cash.

 

if i go to the SCC and the tenant gets a CCJ, i do not think that this would bother him so much! he would not care!

 

he has no assets

 

if i go to SCC, then will i just be wasting my money? i am almost sure that he will not pay his debt. i have read that after going to SCC and he doesn't pay, then i can get the court to send bailffs to him? if the bailiffs can not get anything of any value, then this means i have lost more money in taking him to court?

 

i am so annoyed with him because when i was living in the same house as him i would often lend him money (knowing its giving not lending, since he would never return it) i also overlooked the few times he didnt pay his full rent... i provided his food and also paid for his debts to other people when they called at the house. when i cleaned out his room, i found out the reason for his money troubles - he was a drug addict. i know i have been stupid in being so lenient when he was here, but now i feel angry because of his attitude = saying i can not prove a single thing

 

ive given him plently of chances to repay me the money, i have phoned his mothers house 4 times in 2 months (the day before he gets his benefit)

 

if he has no assets and refuses to pay despite SCC, - then does this mean i am wasting more of my money as i dont have any chance of getting it back?

[assisted blonde]

If you do take him to court and win the repayments ordered will only be a small amount each week as he has no assets or job. IMO it would be better to just draw a line under this, obviously you are angry but is the aggro of taking it to court, minimal payments, then having the additional stress of them possibaly not even coming in on time etc etc seriously I cant in the long run see that its worth the hassle. i suppose the moral is dont mix friends and business.

[morteee]

make sure you inform the relevant authority that he is no longer living in your house and therefore ho longer needs housing benefit!

 

plenty of people out there who DO need it!

[stu007]

Hi

 

Do inform the Local Authority if he was claiming Housing Benefit that exactly what its for and should have been used for rent which they have obviously not being doing.

 

So I would inform the Local Authority HB Dept exactly when they moved out and no rent payments as he is on HB.

[deano_uk]

thanks for all replies and help.

 

it is as i thought, i just have to accept that i must lose money because i am so trusting / lenient / stupid

[assisted blonde]

Trusting and lenient yes, stupid no not really just a nice person who wants to do their best for people, dont let this episode make you too cynical and untrusting

[stu007]

Hi deano_uk

 

Dont think bad of this just take it as a lesson learned really but in a way you will have so to speak the last laugh.

 

Remember he was claiming HB during his time at your property with a legal tenancy agreement so when you contact the Local Authority and give them a copy of that tenancy agreement and the date he done the moonlight flit and the missing rents payments, I am sure they will have problems getting HB again and in fact may have to repay that money.

 

There is a Landlord Forum on Landlord Zone that may be of use to you as well: www.landlordzone.co.uk/

[mariner51]

Stu HB is Ts weekly entitlement and many spend it on other things, if paid to T. Fraud may be argued but each new claim has to be assessed without ref to previous use. If T was not paying rent whilst receiving HB, then LL should apply to HB dept to pay direct to LL. Rent arrears remain resp of T.

 

If OP is prepared to take ex-T to Court, & win with no expectation of receiving any money, he will have the satisfaction of registering the CCJ, which will apear on Ts credit rating for 6 yrs, thus making it harder for ex-T to obtain credit from anyone who checks, ie future resp LLs. If he wins, he adds his costs to sum owed.