Rent Insurance & 7K judgement + chase well paid tenant?

Landlord Discussion Legal
1

My property was fully managed by a (reputable?) letting agency to tenants for 6 years successfully. My tenants split up at the beginning of the year and we served notice to evict the remaining tenant of my 3 bed house. They took advice and remained, changed the locks and stopped all communication. It took 8 months to get them out via baliffs. The courts awarded me 7k in rent arrears.

Fortunately I had GRI which paid out and covered all the legal fees etc.
Unfortunately, the property had been trashed.

I have quotes for the rubbish clearance of £1.5k, the kitchen floor has been damaged to an extent that a repair is likely to cost £3-5K if it can be done with kitchen in situe, the whole place will need mould treatment, redecorating, new bath etc etc.
So my questions.

  1. Is the (theoretical) 7k mine as well as the insured rent (that I have had) or is that for the insurance company to chase the tenants for?
  2. Should I claim for the property damage on my Landlord Insurance policy or would the tenants neglect invalidate it?
  3. Should I be looking to recover the costs from the letting agency as the property was fully managed.

Both tenants skipped without forwarding addresses but the power of social media is a useful tool.
The evicted tenant is in hostel accommodation. The other tenant has moved to a different part of the country in a good job. I have his work address & email. It looks like he is on £55-75K + p.a…

Should I chase tenant via county courts for some/all of the costs involved?

Any advice would be most grateful.

2

Speak to your insurer, but it sounds as though chasing the well paid tenant for the costs would be worthwhile.

You should be aware that if there is a deposit which doesn’t cover the full costs, the correct way to pursue damages from the tenant is to sue them for the whole amount and ask the judge to award the deposit in part payment. Courts usually won’t accept a second claim for the same costs if you do a separate claim from the deposit scheme.