My tenants left my property with a lot of damage - a lot more than the bond could cover. Can I issue a CCJ to recover the excess ? Is there a time limit on issuing the tenants a CCJ?
You normally have six years to chase a debt so you firstly need to write to the tenant informing him of the costs with evidence and giving him a reasonable time to make payment usually 14 days. After that if there is no response or money is not paid, the quickest and easiest way to apply to the courts is making a money claim online where the tenant will have 14 days to either defend the case, acknowledge the case which will give him up to 28 days to defend the case or make payment.
The difficulty will be first of all finding the address where the tenant has moved to and secondly getting the money after he has moved. If you all you want is to get him a CCJ, all you need is his address.
I out of principle always get the tenant a CCJ if any monies are deliberately not paid even if, I am sure that I will not get the money.
I am in fact coincidentally making two applications for monies owed to me one in 2016 and one in 2018.
I am not an expert so do not accept responsibility for any information that may be wrong.
Many thanks for your advice
We got a CCJ against a tenant when we went to court to get possession, but even the judge asked us did we really want one as it’s up to us to try and find the tenant to enforce it (he left owing rent). I feel like they’re not worth the paper they’re written on, although I assume they would show up on the tenants credit check if they ever try to rent again?
They do show up on a check so I think its worth it for revenge. It warns other landlords also.