Tenant not paid what is chance of getting money back

Hello all my name is Iain and I have used open rent on three occasions. (Scotland)

I have a tenant who hasn’t paid three months consecutively. He has been served his notice to leave etc. He has continuously stated to me that he is leaving on specific dates via messages/WhatsApp etc.

He still hasn’t moved out and it transpires that he has been sacked from his work. My intention is to try and retrieve the money owed. Has anybody been through this and did you get your money back?

Thanks Iain

Your chance of ever seeing a penny again (other than the deposit) lies somewhere between Bob Hope and no hope.

Sounds as if you’ll be going legal too so prepare for a few more months of no rent and a lawyers bill.

Eventually you’ll probably get a damaged property back and yet another bill to pay.

Its a nonsense how folk can get off with that. My plan is to take him the full way and see what I get. Thanks for the reply.

Hi Iain,

We are sorry to hear about this situation. We have prepared some guidance on the best way to handle this kind of situation here:

If the above doesn’t help with your particular circumstance, as mentioned in the article we partner legal specialists, who are extremely experienced in helping landlords recover rent arrears.

If you mention you are an OpenRent customer, they will be happy to offer advice on their completely free, no obligation phoneline, please feel free to drop us an email at https://www.openrent.co.uk/faq#i-have-more-questions for their details.

Obviously do let us know if we are able to help further, Elinor

I had this in January this year … slow rent payments Jan and Feb … then nothing .
It’s taken 8 months to evict from a section 21 … the usual housing advice to hang on until the bitter end .
My tenant left owning rent and £3850 in damages and stolen fittings … I have made a claim on his £750 deposit and he has disputed even that .
You will never get your money back … the law is on the side of these scum bags and they know it .
In saying all this if you can afford the extra cost and for some personal justice take him to court and get a County Court judgement against him, you will sleep better that you have inflicted as much stress in his life as he has to you and your family … you might sleep sounder … a park bench is far to good for a few tenants

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Hi
I have had this twice. Once they stop paying regularly, you’ve had it basically. Get them out asap via s21 or s8. It will cost you, but it will cost more to have them sitting there. Don’t waste time on false hope, act now.

Paul

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Hi Iain,
I’m sorry to hear about your bad experience.
When I worked as a Property Manager in London, a while ago, and had a similar problem, this is what I did.
I confirmed that they were indeed unemployed and were getting benefits. If they were I offered to ‘accept payment from the housing benefit department’ if they agreed to have the rent paid ‘direct to me’. This would not affect their ‘unemployment payment’.
They signed a permission form that I got and had them sign when we met to discuss their problem.

Most agreed and signed, thus allowing me to get ‘some’ rent whilst I worked on a plan to ‘decant’ them ‘legally’.

I don’t know how the system works in Scotland. But this may be worth a ‘try’ whilst you think of other ways. Also, this will not cost you anything.

I hope you get a positive resolution soon.

Good luck and stay positive.
Sol

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