Isitworthit Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Hi, any help or thoughts on this situation would be appreciated, thanks. We have a property in a university town that has been let to students, each of them has their own AST rather than it being on a joint tenancy. All of the tenants are fine, pleasant and pay on time except one who has been a bit of a nuisance to the other tenants in the property, but pays their rent on time as well. They are a really awkward person by the sounds of it, so much so that all of the other tenants have complained a number of times. One of them decided they'd had enough and moved out. To be honest, I can see where they were coming from because this nuisance tenant is a pain so I'm not surprised but of course that means we haven't had the rent from them. The tenant that moved out, suggested we keep their deposit and gave us a month's rent up front, which I realise is a lot more than most students would do, but obviously we are out of pocket for the remainder of the lease. The tenant tried to find someone else to take the room but had no success. We have written to them asking for the money but they have replied saying that as a student they have no income and loads of debts etc which is obviously perfectly believable. I know I could pursue this through the Small Claims online service but would it just be throwing good money after bad? We would probably win the case because the money is owed to us but if they haven't got the means to pay then it's unlikely we would ever get our money by the sounds of things. I have heard that the tenant does have a house in their name from somewhere but that could be in negative equity for all I know and even if we got a charge put on the property we might not ever get the money that way either if they never sell it or remortgage it? Also, if the tenant defended the claim for whatever reason, and the case was heard, would the judge have expected us to make attempts to re-let the room ourselves (to be honest, we haven't really bothered trying very hard to find someone because the next tenant would probably complain about the nuisance guy as well after living there a week, which would then result in another load of hassle with us. What's the best course of action? I don't want to spend more money chasing up this guy if I'm not going to get the money one way or another.. Admittedly if a CCJ is registered that causes them some problems for the future but I'm more interested in getting my money back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Hi isitworthit, There are at least two schools of thought on this ..... Some landlords would say "a contract is a contract" and because the tenant has left early ... you should sue in the Small Claims Court (or online) for the money that you are owed ..... Others would say that there is clearly a problem with one of the other tenants, admitted by yourself, and the tenant that moved out simply "had enough" ..... and was gracious enough to let you keep their deposit .... If it were my property ... I would understand the reasons why the tenant moved out early (because of the problem tenant) and simply let them go ... keeping their deposit as offered. However, you need to get a grip of this situation otherwise you risk losing the other tenants as well! So, I would meet the problematic tenant and clearly state that if you get anymore complaints ..... or anymore trouble ... then you will evict immediately. Hope that helps .... Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I agree with what Mark has said....... or to put it simply.....the main problem lies with your disruptive Tenant and it is he that you should be sorting out. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isitworthit Posted April 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Hi isitworthit, There are at least two schools of thought on this ..... Some landlords would say "a contract is a contract" and because the tenant has left early ... you should sue in the Small Claims Court (or online) for the money that you are owed ..... Others would say that there is clearly a problem with one of the other tenants, admitted by yourself, and the tenant that moved out simply "had enough" ..... and was gracious enough to let you keep their deposit .... If it were my property ... I would understand the reasons why the tenant moved out early (because of the problem tenant) and simply let them go ... keeping their deposit as offered. However, you need to get a grip of this situation otherwise you risk losing the other tenants as well! So, I would meet the problematic tenant and clearly state that if you get anymore complaints ..... or anymore trouble ... then you will evict immediately. Hope that helps .... Mark Hi Mark Thanks for the advice. We did go and speak to the bloke who has been a nuisance but there is not long left on the tenancy now so by the time we went through the proper channels to evict him (he wouldn't have made it easy I'm sure so he wouldn't just give up and move) the tenancy period would be over. The other tenants won't bother moving out now because there's only a couple more months to go and they will have finished uni soon. Obviously when we let the room to the guy who is a pain we didn't know he was going to be like that so we shall be very careful in future. The tenants which are left are graduating this summer and will be long gone so we are just going to start afresh with a set of new ones for next academic year. If I did bother chasing the other lad for the money, who has none, through the small claims court online, what's my chances of actually getting any money and would the judge say (if the lad defended his case with all the reasons why he left) "Well I can see why he moved out to be honest and I think they've been pretty good already letting you have the deposit and another month's rent on top of that" and let the guy off completely for what is owed? What I'm getting at is, if I spend the additional money to pursue it and then he says he doesn't have the money or doesn't want to pay us even if he had the money, is there any point in doing a claim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi isitworthit, If you take legal action (the most cost effective way is via Money Claims online - MCOL) then it is likely that you will win the case as the tenant that moved out did, indeed, break their binding tenancy contract with you. However, you have not tried to replace the tenant (which would go against you in judgement because you should have tried to mitigate your loss by striving to find a replacement asap)and there are genuine reasons why the tenant left early (ie: problematic tenant). Having said all that ..... you will probably win the judgement .... but will you get any money? Well - that will depend on the tenant / student and their parents. If it was my child and a landlord was suing them in the Small Claims Court for an outstanding debt of rent that was legally due - I would help them vigorously defend the case (with the reasons stated above and certainly would not admit any liability) but, if I lost, I would probably "pay up" on the premise that I would not want my child to have a CCJ against them as soon as they had left university. Having said all that ... I do not think it MORALLY right that you should sue this student (regardless of whether you get the money or not) ..... I think they have acted well towards you (albeit illegally).... and I would hope that, if I was in a similar situation, my landlord would show compassion rather than steel! But, then again, landlords are not known for compassion very often <grin>. Good luck Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isitworthit Posted April 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi Mark Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree, I do feel the lad has tried to be fair, and as I said in my OP, he did a lot more than most people,student or not, would in suggesting we keep the deposit and another month'srent on top of that. As much as we would like our money back, I don't feel comfortable pursuing the chap but my husband is keen to, hence my original question. I think we will just let the matter go especially as we might not even get the money back anyway, I'll talk my husband out of it, he knows I don't think it's right even though we have a legal right to. Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isitworthit Posted April 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Sorry, something I forgot to ask you. When you say the landlord needs to make proper efforts to re-let the room asap (so we know for future reference!) what is classed as making a reasonable effort? We did advertise the room, but no one rang to request to view it. Would we be expected to instruct an agent, have them erect a To Let board, advertise it every week in the paper and whereever we could etc etc? How much effort does a judge expect these days and have you ever known any cases where the judge has said "Well you've made practically no effort to re-let the room so the tenant owes you less?". Just out of curiosity really, as I've said, we weren't very keen to re-let it because we knew it was inevitable the next tenant would take a dislike to the existing chap too, resulting in even more complaints but ordinarily of course we would make sterling efforts to re-let asap for obvious reasons. Thanks, and then I'll leave you in peace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi isitworthit, The important point is that you should try and find a tenant. I know of some landlord who, when "legally right", simply take court action against the defaulting tenant ... and then sit back and try and sue them for every penny owed under the breached contract. The correct way, though, would be to make every effort possible in trying to secure a replacement tenant. If you usually advertise the property in the paper - advertise it in the paper - if you usually use a letting agent - instruct a letting agent etc etc etc Then, as soon as you have secured a new tenant, it would be reasonable to discharge the defaulting tenant of their legal responsibility. The amount the defaulting tenant would then owe you (if you continued to pursue them in Court) would be the amount of rent lost from when they left until the new tenant took possession PLUS your costs for finding a new tenant (advertising costs, letting agency costs etc). Hope that helps ..... and I am so pleased you decided to take "the compassionate route". Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isitworthit Posted April 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi isitworthit, The important point is that you should try and find a tenant. I know of some landlord who, when "legally right", simply take court action against the defaulting tenant ... and then sit back and try and sue them for every penny owed under the breached contract. The correct way, though, would be to make every effort possible in trying to secure a replacement tenant. If you usually advertise the property in the paper - advertise it in the paper - if you usually use a letting agent - instruct a letting agent etc etc etc Then, as soon as you have secured a new tenant, it would be reasonable to discharge the defaulting tenant of their legal responsibility. The amount the defaulting tenant would then owe you (if you continued to pursue them in Court) would be the amount of rent lost from when they left until the new tenant took possession PLUS your costs for finding a new tenant (advertising costs, letting agency costs etc). Hope that helps ..... and I am so pleased you decided to take "the compassionate route". Mark For those that sat back and made little or not effort, did they win anyway? Did the judge look at their case unfavourably because they'd been lazy and wanting to sue the tenant for every penny? The judge must know when he is faced with landlords that are not very nice as opposed to the fair ones? Yes, I'm glad too, it didn't feel right to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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