Former tenant rent arrears

[rocky27]

Hi wonder if any one can help I was renting my property through a letting agent this 6mth period ended on sept 30 this year with tenant moving out there was damages so after that coming off deposit she still owed 162 rent arrears as she didn't pay her last months rent . Letting agent sent a demand to her about 3wks ago she has not responded . They are now saying it's up to me to chase her . They have sent me her contact details for me to take her to small claims court how do I go about this & can I contact her telling her of my intention to do this

[Trenners]

Hi Hollyroc,

Welcome to the world of landlording!

You could decide to take your tenant to the small claims court, you could inform your tenant of your intention to take them to court, you could win your small claims court action ...... but there is NO GUARANTEE that you are going to see the £162 that the tenant owes!!!

My advice is to call the tenant and _threaten_ court action. In my experience, if your ex-tenant has any intention of ever paying you the £162 then the _threat_ will encourage them to pay what they owe you.

If the tenant decides to ignore your threats it is very likely they will also ignore your court action.

I have learnt, after being a landlord for many years, that it is often better to "write off" the occasional small debt than go through the stress and anguish of court action (as getting courts involved rarely solve tenancy problems).

If you are determined to sue in the small claims court then take a look at Money Claims Online (MCOL) - you can get information on this via Google.

Good Luck

Mark

[Mortitia]

I agree with Mark. You will have to pay to start any kind of court action so that is just adding to the money you might not recover. In letting terms that is quite a small amount of arrears so I would set it aside and move on.

Did your letting agency not note damage being done at an earlier inspection? You might want to check how often they inspected and maybe change agency if there is negligence. Letting is a steeeeep learning curve so read all you can and learn.

Mortitia

[rocky27]

Thanks folks for the advice will take on board all comments

[kes]

Hi Hollyroc,

Welcome to the world of landlording!

You could decide to take your tenant to the small claims court, you could inform your tenant of your intention to take them to court, you could win your small claims court action ...... but there is NO GUARANTEE that you are going to see the £162 that the tenant owes!!!

My advice is to call the tenant and _threaten_ court action. In my experience, if your ex-tenant has any intention of ever paying you the £162 then the _threat_ will encourage them to pay what they owe you.

If the tenant decides to ignore your threats it is very likely they will also ignore your court action.

I have learnt, after being a landlord for many years, that it is often better to "write off" the occasional small debt than go through the stress and anguish of court action (as getting courts involved rarely solve tenancy problems).

If you are determined to sue in the small claims court then take a look at Money Claims Online (MCOL) - you can get information on this via Google.

Good Luck

Mark

I have used Money Claim Online a few times and its worked on half the occasions ..... it does cost you but you can add that to the claim for the other side to pay.

Ring a company called Legal for Landlords as well, they may be able to help you further.