My tenant owes me 6 months rent!! (approx £2000.00 and climbing every week)I have issued a small claims against her and when I read through the copy of her outgoing expenses that the court sent to me she had signed the statement of truth, she statedng that she paid 400.00 rent every month, also ridiculously high gas/electric bills.and also did not agree with what she owed.(I have everything logged) She has now committed Contempt of Court as she signed this as statement of truth when it wasan untruth, why was I sueing her otherwise.I am now having to go to Court on that one as I have now received a Transfer of Proceedings and waiting for a Court date. Do I wait until she leaves the property and gets a new address before Ie proceed on this one? Dreading going to Court AS I FEEL I AM GOING TO GET HUMILIATED AS PROBABLY THE JUDGE WILL SAY TO HER PAY BACK 1.50 OR SOMETHING RIDICULOUS PER WEEK OFF ARREARS as she is now only working 20 hours per week until all this is settled. Not daft is she?
I also got a possession order for the 13th June 2007. (7th July and still there)and she was also ordered to pay my costs before that date.( no monies received)I then paid 95.00 for bailiffs on the 14th June who said they were very busy and they would not be able to come out straight away.They said they would notify tenant 2/3 weeks before eviction. My tenant panicked as I told her what was goikng to happen and I have it in writing from her she would move out the next week, ordered removal van everything.
Low and behold could not believe it when the bailiffs wrote to her the same week and said they would be there until the 12th AUGUST!!! 12 noon. 7 1/2 weeks notice! So what has happened,I receive an other letter saying she is not going and will wait nearer the time to vacate on or before the 12th Aug. Another 7 weeks rent not being paid on top of what she already owes.After pulling my hair out I have contacted the bailiffs and asked could they at least go round to the property and recover the debt for the Court Costs, she has a nearly new car sat on the drive, but they have said no, they do not have time I will get the propery back in August so count myself lucky and just be happy to write the debt off and get my property back. I also asked could I get my own bailiff in and was told no, why is this if they cannot work any quicker? What I do find strange is that he said he had been round to deliver something by hand twice and her dog had nearly bitten him as he pushed it through the letterbox as she was not in, what would that be? If he had time to do that why could he not got back and try and rfecover some if not all of my money? She will leave before the 12th August, what if I cannot get her forwarding address, (I will be watching the property and will follow her but I cannot be there 24/7 as I work full time) so what exactly am I paying the 95.00 bailiff fee for? What sort of justice is this for landlords. If every tenant did this I would be bankrupt, we cannot surely be expected to keep writing things off especially the amnount that I am now owed.The Council and the Cit Advice have told her to sit as long as poss, again what sort of advice is this to give to people, it encourages them to keep on doing it over and over again. They could make a career out of renting properties for 8 months of the year rent free before moving on to the next landlord.
If she moves out before bailiffs call and all her belongings have gone can I change the locks?? The bailiff said that if everything of hers has gone and I have a possession order I can, after reading the forum from top to bottom (bog eyed I am at the moment) I am not so sure. CAN I????Its my word against hers that she has not given me the keys isnt it? Naughty but what the hell, I am getting past caring now
there seems to be no justice for me
People, landlords, there is no quick way of getting tenants out of your houses believe me, if you have managed it you are VERY LUCKY INDEED. I have done everything by the book, correct papers,in correct order, bang on time, advice from RLA and the Courts, the whole shidaddle and still the woman sits there after non payment of rent from last February. In total it will have taken me 7 months to get her out by August...and dont get me started on DPS thats another story.
OK if things go smoothly but if tenant disappears (yet another problem I had to come back to after my hols)more money to pay out for your Solicitor to sign a form stating you are who you are to get the money back after a delay of 3 weeks. (they have to write to empty property to a tenant that is not there, they have obviously gone, after 14 days when they have had no reply (they arent going to get one as they are not there so they wont get a reply, arggg)you then have to request a form, you then have to take time off from work to take to your Solicitor to sign, rfeturn it to DPS then after another delay you hopefully get the deposit back.Also dont get to annoyed at having to wait at least 30 mins for DPS to answere phones ...they are very busy and close at 5.00pm ...mmm I only have 45 mins for my dinner break what am I supposed to do?
So ready to sell up all my properties and emigrate to North Pole after this years experiences.I unfortunately look at EVERY tenant as trouble now, my trust has completely gone, especially with the nice ones as its usually them that I have found are the worst.DO NOT BE TAKEN IN BY ANYONE BEING WELL DRESSED, POLITE, NICE AND FRIENDLY, EVEN GOOD REFERENCES ETC, CHECK, CHECK AND CHECK AGAIN AND THEN KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED..(I do do credit checks and refs but am now also going to start to get Nat Ins No,s )Nothing more you can do then is there?
