When The Tenant Doesn’t Pay Rent

Amarjit Singh Kullar wrote this on 2009-09-22 17:15:18 Sometimes it happens like the owner of the p[roperties of the residential properties become tesnsed up. But not always. 1

Phil wrote this on 2009-09-23 09:54:54 I have an ongoing problem with tenants that were given their statutory 2 months notice as I was moving back into my property. On the first month of the notice the payment collected via letting agent (wasters)were not in full and I had to chase the agents to find out why!! Then the tenants disappeared the first week into the last month and refused to pay the rent. On visiting the property I can see why as they knew they had no way of getting their deposit back!! They redecorated the house top to bottom badly and in really shit colours.They had gone into the main ring of the electrics and re-routed wiring adding sockets, it was all very dodgy!! They had thrown away a couple of items of furniture I had left in the house, broken glass, boiler wasnt working. And now I have nothing but hassle from debt collectors for unpaid parking fines for cars registered at my house in numerous names!! And I thought employing a Letting Agent to manage my property whilst working abroad would be a good thing...how wrong can you be!! The agents were writing saying they had inspected the property and it was being well looked after and if it wasnt for a friend contacting me saying the house looked empty I would not have known they had buggered off!! The agents didnt know and have been totally useless!! Even now they are supposedly trying to get the deposit back from the DPS and they have cocked that up by submitting the final comments and reports over a week past the deadline. Where do I go from here? any advice would be welcomed :-) Sorry for the long message, but as far as Im concerned the tenants I had are scum!! And as for the agents Ive been thinking of all sorts of ways I could get my own back, again any suggestions most welcomed. 2

Jas wrote this on 2009-09-23 11:07:34 You should look at taking the letting agents to court for negligence and due care. Basically, look to seek costs from them rather then the tenant directly as they were hired to perform full management. Read your contract with them in properly to see what they should have and not have been doing etc. All correspondence with them etc. Speak with a solicitor to see if you have a case. 3

Phil wrote this on 2009-09-23 12:00:12 I have been considering taking the letting agents to court, but I was only paying 10% this was for finding a tenant and rent collection, which they failed to do on the last month. I had a friend of the family who is a barrister look over the contract with the letting agents, but he seems to think its all a bit open ended with regards to any liability on their behalf. They are a well known Estate/Letting Agents in my area, but its only when things go wrong you discover they dont even belong to any professional organisation such as ARLA. I have all the correspondence with them as things started to go wrong after the first 6 months letting agreement. It transpired that a full referencing and credit checks were not done because the tenants originally paid six months in advance. By this time I had already gone to NZ. By the second term they could only pay 4 months and eventually only month to month. I asked about Rental Warranty and was told I would not qualify for this as the tenants would not have met the required criteria. Its cost me about £3000 to put the house right and now the tenants are trying claim most of the deposit back via the DPS. I am now waiting a decision from the ARD on this. 4