Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

[seduraed]

Hi there folks one of my lodgers left still ohwowing me £190 (two weeks rent). Contrary to our usual practice we didn't take two months rent in advance. She had left an abusive relationship where her then partner took all her money and bank card. We agreed that she would therefore pay us at her next payday. She has now left and is refusing to pay us .
Unfortunately I dont have a paper trail , however our former tenant has sent messages to us saying that she will pay the rent (I have two of these ).
I have prepared the following letter to send but was wondering if there is enough to go go to court with ?



Dear XXXXX


I am writing about the outstanding rent for your room at . When you left on 18th April 2014you agreed that the rent of £190 would be paid for he outstanding period. On that understanding we allowed you to vacate the room without further payment and without completing the cleaning . Since moving in on the second occasion you have always paid rent in arrears which is contrary to our usual practice.
When we delivered the wicker cabinet to you on or around 20^th April you stated both to my son and I that you couldn't pay this week as you had a bill from the council which needed paying. As a gesture of goodwill I agreed to the delay.


Despite several requests you failed to return to clean your room and leave it in a tidy fashion as per the contract . On coming in to clean I noticed large amounts of eyebrow pencil shavings on the rug and bookcase . No attempt had made to keep these tidy and they had resulted in permanent staining to the rug . As you had left the room in a mess and with some of your property still in ; I did not attempt to let the room until the promised date of the rent .
I would remind remind you that on arrival you had no money at all and we had to go out and buy you toiletries. You were not in possession of your bank card at the time and we had to wait until your next pay day before your rent was paid . This left you throughout the period of the tenancy running behind with your payments.






Please contact me to arrange payments of the outstanding amount . I do not wish to take further action but will do so if necessary . If further action becomes necessary then the claim would include court costs and cleaning as appropriate.

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Bump

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

BUMP

[Crazy council]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Basical No.

You need a contract really to take a tenant to court

Also, the amount is low, its not worth it,

And, please consider the following, i was a property manager for many years and faced similar situations.


People's lives go all over the place, when splitting up, or other significant events happen in there lives. Lodger or himos, make the most money as propertys, the reason for that is lodger and himo tenants are transient in nature. and

YOU DID NOT TAKE A DEPOSIT OR ADVANCE.

Doh..... Never do that, 4 weeks rent usualy covers most difficulties.

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

There's a contract in fact there were two copies one for me and one for her . Further I have emails and facebook messages dated just after she left saying please wait a few days and I will pay the rent . Yes i know I should have taken four weeks rent in advance but her abusive drug using ex partner had stolen all her money, and stuffed it up his nose . It was take her in or see her on the street .

[MissFM]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Hi Seduraed

FWIW and from the perspective of experience, particularly concerning those to whom we've been especially kind as you describe above - it really isn't going to be worthwhile from any point of view chasing this woman for the money, which she clearly doesn't have, IMVHO.

If it were me, I would maybe write to her as you propose if you need to make the point but abandon all hope as regards court - it would cost you far more in effort, money and stress than you could hope to regain.

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Oh she has the money last all right she has been in steady work for the 12 months and has been promoted to supervisor in the bar she works in . I think the problem arises with her current B?F (not the cokehead) who feels that I was hard on his friend (also a former lodger) a i only refunded £100 of a £400 advance when said lodger told me on a monday that he was moving out on the friday and then I was unable to let the room for three weeks . I let him have the £100 back as I managed to let the room . The contract is quite clear that not giving notice loses your advance payment .

[Crazy council]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Yes i know I should have taken four weeks rent in advance but her abusive drug using ex partner had stolen all her money, and stuffed it up his nose

I was trying to hint at the fact that in my experience of tenancys, you have to lean when to back out when peoples lives start falling inwards... and consider maybe they would pay you if they could afford to. Am not saying in any way that your wrong for chasing this, am just suggesting its much more hassle than its worth.

in steady work for the 12 months and has been promoted to supervisor in the bar

If wages are the same round here for bar staff, bar supervisor is about the same pay grade as someone at mackkys with 4 stars on there badge. maybe she genuinely can not afford it.

The contract is quite clear that not giving notice loses your advance payment .

If your contracts are correct, served correctly,, the court really is the landlords friend, but be aware, if there is anything wrong with the contract or service of docs, it will work out as expensive for you.

I am sorry if it comes out blunt, i dont mean it to.....

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

hI cc I'm not sure what you mean by service of docs. The document I use is a licence to occupy which gives the tenant only minimal security. On moving in she signed the standard contract which is one of the Lawpack ones . There were two copies signed at teh same time by both of us and she then signed each additional page of the contract agreeing that she had read the terms and conditions on that page .

[Crazy council]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Hi
#
By service of the docs, i ment that they have to be signed before occupation. I have seen Landlords trip up with this. But by what you describe you have done the paperwork correct.

I do have a HIMO, and whne i live there i have had formal lodgers. I have never had to take any action against any tenants i had, or indeed tenants from other HIMOs we were renting out for people. But

Lodger contracts ( do you meen HIMO ), are a lot harder to enforce arrears on. If your not resident in the property, its probably a HIMO, and they are enforceable.

I personally would not take take action over a small amount, its probably not worth the stress. The rules around HIMOs ( if it is one ) are strict and nay legal rep that the ex tenants gets will tie you up with that.

If it is a proper lodger, you may be opening your family up to a number of false statements by the tenant ( been there , done that ).

Finaly, i would suspect that a judge would just say you should have took a deposit,

I hope that helps,

[seduraed]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

THe house is registered as a house in multiple occupation sui generis. I live in the property and it is my sole residence. The lodgers are not covered by the main provisions of the housing act and in particular I do not need to use a deposit guarantee scheme.

[Crazy council]

Re: Lodger left owing rent , help with recovery wanted .

Hi i was just reading what sui generis ment in relation to hmo's. am not up to date with changes to himos after 2010.

The lodgers are not covered by the main provisions of the housing act

.

Am not sure with the above, i would have to do more reading. It USED to be, you could have 2 lodgers ( none family ), in your own main residence, and not be bothered about conditions of the housing act for notice ect, but 3 or more, then the tenants were subject to the act.

on to the matter you asked about. Help with recovery..... for that amount, i just dont think its worth it. Its for reasons like this why you should never fall for a sob story with tenants ( have been caught out myself ) . Any reasopnable person, can borrow a few hundred for a deposit if they need to...... for them who can not..... maybe there not the best tenants becuase tif there friends wont lend them the money, why should you. I will say, HMOs are the harder propertys to manage but there is much more money in them.

The only type of person that i would ( and have ) consider letting a property to without a deposit is a woman with childeren. and that would have to be understandable circumstances.