Rent Arrears

[mad7doc@aol.com]

Hi All

Looking from some advice form the more experienced members here.

I have a tenant who is now 2 months into rent arrears

Tenancy agreement signed on 23/12/2009 Deposit paid
No rent after this

Agent kept all the deposit as their fee.

The insurance has issued proceedings to evict the tenant

All attempts to contact the tenant have been unsuccessful

Referee address is incorrect, phone numbers are fake , mobile is always off

No reply to emails or letters

No reply at the door.

Mail in the mailbox with someone elses name- I was checking mail to return any old mail-repossesion property

Can I simply change locks at the property.

How do I recover rent

By the time he is evicted he will owe 5 months of unpaid rent

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Mad

[havensRus]

assuming you are in E&W,

1. issue a Section 8 Notice (http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/pdf/servingS8.pdf#search=%22section%208%22), Grounds 8, 10, 11 immediately, obviously addressed to T at the property.
2. when the 2 week notice period expires, apply to court for possession using PCOL (https://www.possessionclaim.gov.uk/pcol/HomePage.do).
3. You should then get a court date within 4-6weeks of applying.
4. Possession will be granted if T still has more than 2 months of unpaid rent on date of court hearing.

You will have to bear the loss until you get a court judgement for the possession and the money. You could try tracing T afterward to try to get your money back.

[westminster]

Tenancy agreement signed on 23/12/2009 Deposit paid
No rent after this

Agent kept all the deposit as their fee.
If this is an AST in England/Wales, with rent less than £2,083.33 pcm, and landlord does not live in the same building, the landlord is obliged to protect the T's deposit in a scheme. The agent may have 'kept' some of the money paid by T to set against their fees, but that does not alter the legal position; legally, T paid a deposit and, legally, you received it.


The insurance has issued proceedings to evict the tenant
You mean rent/landlord insurance? Are they using s.8 procedure?


Can I simply change locks at the property.
No. If the T returned, you'd be exposed to charges of illegal eviction.


How do I recover rent

Doesn't the insurance cover this?

[westminster]

Referee address is incorrect, phone numbers are fake

p.s. who did the credit/reference checks for this tenant?

[westminster]

See also
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal/abandonment.htm