debt

[julianhood]

a person has just moved out of a house that i rent to them and left an horrendous mess, also damage, i am trying to find them to recouperate the loss incurred

[Loosehead]

well good luck with that.

[drestie]

Do you not still have their security deposit??

[cascarelli]

I assume you have their deposit still? This presumably wont cover the cost of the damage?

Did they have a Guarantor? Did you take any other details about them before they moved in - National Insurance number, passport number etc? Have you checked with the utilities companies to see if there is a forwarding address? How about their car registration number?

It seems over the top but we take all these details just incase this type of situation arises.

Would your insurance cover the cost of the damage?

[noxlumos]

Well you can trace people and take them to court, but unless you are prepared to go and kick their door in I really wouldn't bother as they'll turn up at court, deny everything and when it's found against them plead poverty and offer to pay you about �5.00 per week, which they will then not pay etc etc etc... you get the idea. Lots of hassle for not much back. Much better to either try the door kicking (lol) or better still take it as a lesson and just learn from your mistake.
As a landlord, I always arrange to have someone call to collect the rent in person every week or month unless it's via the DSS in which case I insist it's paid directly to me by the DSS, as if someone calls regularly it's
a. useful to you because you can get an idea if the property is being looked after
b. it's harder for people to dodge paying face to face as
a direct debit is easy to ignore or explain away as a bank error or something and before you know it they are 2 or 3 months behind.
I'd just take your first loss on this I'm afraid.

[Loosehead]

now now Noxy, what about your liberal beliefs? You can't go around booting doors in. Surely all property is theft and the poor deserve a roof over their heads and not to be exploited by the rich landlords. Heaven forfend at this rate you're going to have to become a Tory!

[Andy Boz]

A horrendous mess, not AN horrendous mess!

[RATTER15]

An horrendous mess not AN horendous mess!!!!

[Andy Boz]

Quite Rater15, I was using AN to emphasize it, not as a mistake. I cannot underline or use italics on here, so I used upper case instead.