Bailiffs - advice needed

[Hillsider]

First post, so please be gentle...

I have a query around the appointment of bailiffs - in short, my tenant defaulted on his rent, we removed him via a section 21 and he moved into another rental property locally. He left owing us around £1800, so we we attempted to collect this ourselves, and then via moneyclaim online. No luck so far, and we are now at the point where judgement was reached in our favour, and the (ex) tenant is in default of this. Our next option is to issue a warrant - which as I understand requires us to pay an extra £100 and send in a court appointed bailiff.

Is this my best move? Am I better off getting my own bailiffs (if so - any recommendations?).

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Hillsider

[Mortitia]

Hi there,

Does this character have any money? IE is he in work or own a vehicle that the bailiff to confiscate to sell to pay the debt? If he does not do/have any of this then you might be wasting your time - sorry to put you off and apologies if you have already thought of that.

Ring around and get prices from Debt collectors and private bailiff firms. Some work on no win, no fee. Decide from there which is best value.

Good luck,

Mortitia

[Melboy]

Hillsider.......you can only get the money back if the person has "tangible assets" otherwise you would be throwing good money after bad to reclaim the outstanding debt.

Has this person got anything of value?

Mel.

[Chestnut]

I was caught up in a similar situation several years ago, with a similar debt, for which I obtained a CCJ against the tenant, who by then had fortunately already vacated, leaving a letter promising to repay and a forwarding address, ...which didn't exist!

The best advice I received from this site was to move on without wasting more money on a chase, to look after my property, and relet as soon as posssible, which I did.

In such circumstances it was highly likely that the ex-tenant had no funds, was suffering from greater debts to others (witnessed by continuing piles of post from HP and utility companies which I 'Returned to Sender') and that even if I succeeded in winning a repayment award, the chances were it would be but a few pence per month and I would for ever be paranoically rushing for the daily post to see if it arrived..... Think about it.

Best to put it down to experience and forget about it - as I have, except when advising others!

Landlording is a business - You win some and lose some.

[Hillsider]

Thanks all - the tenant vacated without too much trouble, so we have the house back which is the important thing.

Asset-wise - I believe he is working, and he has a car. He also had a sizeable flat screen TV and laptop as I recall from inspections. His other creditors do not have his new address, and I have not yet passed it on as I want to be first in the queue should any money become available.

I suppose what i would like to to know is, am I more likely to get results from a private bailiff as opposed to a court appointed one? I am torn between recovering as much as I can (on a point of principle if little else) or calling it a day (and letting everyone have his address).

As for private bailiffs - can anyone recommend the best way to locate a local one (agency or similar)? No win no fee sounds good to me!!

Cheers.

[Mortitia]

No win no fee was the debt collector not bailiff. As for bailiffs look on line - google if necessary to find contact numbers for them. I'm sure you will get plenty of advice and then tell us as this seems to be a frequent question.

I would go for getting my cash first - though you might not get all of it then give the rogues address to everyone else! Someone once said 'revenge is a dish best served cold'.

Mortitia

[Melboy]

Yes, always do as much as you can legally to stuff these people. Never let them think they have got away with it.

Bailliff's ? good idea.....if the Council tax and parking people do it why not you?

Mel.

[mad_maz]

Hi

I agree with Chestnut as we had a similar experience a couple of years ago where the tenants had no assets and were on benefits.

It grieved us to walk away knowing that they owed a large sum of money and had trashed the property, but the important thing is to get the property back.

These people seem to think that Landlords have pots of money and can afford to subsidise them. Gggrrrrrr

Maz

[Mortitia]

To sum up if the tenant has no assets as in case of Chestnut and Maz - then get on and re-let but if there are assets as there seem to be here I think it is worth a go to try and recover something and agree with Mel.

I know it's a bit of a strain but sometimes pursuing these court things to the end is quite enlightening.

Mortitia

[Jinal]

Bailiffs trying to recover money you owe to HMRC are allowed to break into your home,providing they have a magistrates' warrant-but this method is rare and only used as a last resort.

[Hillsider]

Thanks all...

We have found a firm (looks like an agency based in Darlington) who have a number of self-employed bailiffs on their books. Being self employed they are 'more highly motivated' than a court appointed civil servant.

Cost wise - it costs £100 to send in a court appointed bailiff. These private folk charge an initial £50 (to transfer the warrant into their name) and then, if they are unsuccessful, a further £60 in costs.

In short, we are happy to shell out another £110 on this one before we give up. And given how close the costs are, the private bailiff seem the sensible choice.

Will let you know how we get on (I could well be on here trying to sell a used Volvo if things go well).

Cheers