I’ve used the same procedure as David122 noted, many times. MCOL is very simple and straight forward, using the address of her tenancy, she will not receive the claim notice, then simply apply on MCOL for the automatic judgment on the date they advise, 2 weeks following your claim date.
I used Grosvenor Services (contact@grosvenorservices.co.uk) in the past, with remarkable results. It is unbelievable the information I received from them, in the case of one errant tenant they even told me the Mothers address and that he visited there every Sunday…
Once you’ve received the judgment, if you find her address, you can request the court issue a warrant of control for the seizure of goods to the value.
Don’t use her email address, as Ola1 suggested, or she’ll get notification of your claim, and will be able to contest it, requiring a court appearance and associated cost.
Just read your post #18, if she’s on UC, don’t waste your money tracing her or on warrants, since you’re likely to get nothing.
Is that her bank statements you have? If so you can apply to the courts to seize her account, I forget the actual terminology. Assuming there is money in that account, you will get your judgment sum from her balance, that’s a big if of course.
I disagree. It’s worth the £65 for the satisfaction of saddling her with a CCJ.
I’ve had the odd one paid back, when they realise they can’t operate financially in some instances with a CCJ on their credit files, £1,500 in one particular case, and that pays for a lot of future CCJ’s.
If you know your business, have all the detailed evidence, are familiar with the courts attitude towards "wear & tear, then the process is very simple, especially on MCOL.
Just make sure when you submit your claim, to include a request for the court to demand release of the bond in part repayment for the debt from the DPS (or other).
If the claim is contested and you end up in court, the clerks of the courts are very helpful with advice regarding the necessary forms and processes required to proceed with your claim and issue warrants. Some courts even have an attendant solicitor on occasional days to offer free advice.
Hi Nicola, I totally agree with you, and as many Landlords would concur there should be an official database of bad tenants which would make life a lot easier. But the data protection rules provide bad tenants more lives than a Cat
The only way Landlords can currently form an opinion of an application is through referencing and credit checks.
Thanks Chris
I think you’re right last week I’ve been dealing with the land registry and HMRC form 17 and deed of trust and all that and I’ve done it all myself without a solicitor it just takes quite a lot of your time! Saved myself £370 per property.
Need to save some money somehow ha ha!
Thanks for advice about the process and people who could help as well.
Having tenants myself and having worked in the debt tracing and recovery business for 30 years please take my advice and write it off to experience. Tracing is easy, recovery of unpaid rent is the hardest debt to collect. Don’t waste any more time or money.
The CCJ via money claims online which costs little and takes 10 minutes to do is in effect a bad tenants register.
One thing to be aware of is the court would have expected you to tried to resolve the dispute before submitting the claim eg e mails ot text messages to show you offered to discuss a payment plan but they either turned it down or didn’t respond .
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So do I, and just up the road from you in Southern Thailand.
MCOL - money claim on line, is exactly that. You can manage the whole process I described above (post #20) on line, from your computer anywhere in the world. I did one last year from Thailand, got the judgment, and no come back.
When you request the court to instruct DPS to release the bond, in your claim, make sure you include the full details of the bond reference number, names, address, etc.
Even if the tenant makes a claim to set aside the judgment, and it proceeds to court, they would have to pay for that court process, and you could still manage it by having your evidence presented on paper, without the need for you to physically attend the court hearing.
If you have an agent managing the property in UK, they should be able to put the evidence together and present it with your / their statement, perhaps even represent you in a court hearing if you have them committed to that service in their contract.
It really is that simple, and there are no legal machinations to trip you up, requiring a lawyer. Just make your claim reasonable considering the allowance required for wear & tear. It’s a different story if you’re trying to evict someone, then you’d better know exactly what you’re doing and get all your ducks in a row, I have my agent signed up to manage that process.
Just today seen a BBC world news report, that referred to a court case being held online via Zoom. So, there you go, you can even attend the court hearing from Malaysia in person if you so wish.