Taking tenant to small claims court

Are you holding a deposit from him?

IIRC, even on a monthly tenancy, you still need to give the tenant 2 months notice ending on the rent day.

What exactly do you mean by owing £500? Technically, if the rent is £500 a month then he is "owing £500" even if he pays one day late. But then he'll be up to date for the remaining 29-ish days. Are you saying he's £500 in arrears *on average*? Or is the number of days late creeping up each month?

Relative to which baseline is he owing £500? Usually, if rent is due in advance and you have one month's deposit, the base line is that on average the tenant is 1.5 months' rent in credit. It doesn't look too bad to be in arrears of 1 month relative to that, but if it's relative to zero, then he's really 2.5 months in arrears, which is a bit more serious.

Have you asked him, in writing, to settle his arrears? Unless he refuses, or agrees but doesn't do it, you shouldn't just take him to court. You should give him a formal warning requiring him to pay up within a reasonable time, failing which you will take him to court. Then do so.

Whatever it says in your tenancy agreement, tenancy law over-rides this and requires you to give 2 months' notice ending on a rent day, which could mean nearly 3 months' notice if starting from an arbitrary date.

If your primary intention is to recover arrears, you should do that first, while you still know where he is. That might persuade him to leave voluntarily, which might save you the bother of obtaining an eviction order if he doesn't comply with any notice to quit you might then serve on him.

Do you have other problems with him, apart from late paying? Have you thought you might be charging too much? Try offering him a reduction in rent to encourage prompter payment. The point is, if you do throw him out, how sure are you that you will find a new tenant willing to pay as much rent as you're asking? How long will it take to find one and how much rent are you losing meanwhile?

It would probably require a second court action to recover the costs of enforcing the first.

Either choose your next tenant more carefully, or sell up and cash in on your property price inflation windfall. :-)

Yes, you can. Plus any other reasonable costs incurred in recovering the main debt.

Try

Yes currently *owes* 500 - some months more some months less.

He's had *many* letters indicating his late rent and threatening court action.

I'm not charging too much. The problem isn't the rent cost, the problem is him not paying.

Not such a cash windfall as you think!, also I'm in it for the long haul, I need the income. If sold where else could I stick my cash to generate a reasonable income and give me something to do :-)

Did he react to them at all? It is a mistake to threaten court action many times. You should threaten it only once, then give a final warning, then actually do it. Otherwise the message you're sending is that you don't really mean it.

In message , Mark Hula writes

Mark,

Firstly, it sounds like your best bet is to get rid of him, and write the money off to experience. It is not for the courts to find him, it is for you. If he cant pay his rent to keep his roof over his head, he almost certainly wont have any money if you do find him.

Assuming you have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, you must give 2 months notice, (A Section 21 notice), which must expire on the last day of a tenancy period, i.e. the day before the rent is due as per the tenancy agreement. It doesnt matter if the tenancy agreement says you can give 1 months notice - you cant, (well you can, and he might leave, but it will not have the force of law, and will count for nothing in a court if he doesnt leave).

If he becomes 2 months in arrears, you can serve a Section 8 notice giving 2 weeks notice that you want possession, then you can apply to The Court.

I cant teach you how to do this correctly here, but I have learnt the hard way by using letting agents who do not know what they are doing, ditto solicitors.

Most of what I have gleaned has been from the web, and from The RLA, (Residential Landlords Association - £75 per year -

How much is the monthly rent. (deposit is academic as it is not "rent").

Dont waste your time in the small claims court,serve him notice to quit,seek legal advice if you dont know how to do this. As well as this submit a claim on line for the small claim but dont expect miracles becuase you probably wont see any money out of it. At least you will have registered a debt against him.

joe

My web page gives onward links to the official sources -