How Long Does It Generally Take After Speaking To A Solicitor ...

[CW1]

... to have a summons for non payment of rent issued ?

The tenant vacates in less than 2 weeks & wondering if there's time to do this ? Also, a rough idea of cost ?
Many thanks

[Peter Pedant]

weeks
Solicitors are not quick ( except when sending in fee notes at £200/h )

If your tenant leaves in 2 weeks get him out first
vacant possession is the big thing

and worry about rent arrears later....

It is likely he will think to himself I am staying here rent free so I will stayon until the sucker evicts me.

Once he is out you an do rent arrears - yourself and it is very very easy

start here: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

you will need the address the little b=st=ard has fled to
and kick off with a letter-before-action clearly stating what you are seeking.

I think you need to deliver this personally but you will have to check.
I did this with one tenant who then ran down the police station screaming harassment.
commonplace - see here: http://www.5rb.com/case/crawford-v-jenkins/

If you are still speaking to the defaulting tenant then in your walk-round on vacation you are going to include meter readings - and get him to sign them and you can include the letter-before-action in the pack.


Dont use a solicitior - rent arrears actions are easy peasy.
getting the money is harder
once I have possession I often dont bother, as the day you have the keys in your hot little hand, is the day your losses cease.

[CW1]

Thanks Peter, that's very useful.

A solicitor is s'posed to be calling me later this afternoon, but I'll get the online claim started & saved asap. Looks like that way, if I get the online claim initiated in the next day or so, the tenant would at least know about it before he's due to leave.

We've e-mailed & texted, & even spoken, where he's asked for my bank details even tho' he already had them, there's been many promises to pay. I can't get to the house anytime soon so will have to ask the solicitor about the letter-before-action bit.

I think he will go when he's due to but I won't have a forwarding address. He mentioned moving in with an ex or clearing off to Cornwall, that's as much as I know. But if the claim's started, if he doesn't respond, least he'll end up with a CCJ, & he says he values his good credit record - that's a joke in itself, he's *always* been late with the rent !

I would think it'll be the letting agents who'll do the walk around though the Property Ombudsman's involved now due their inadequacies so nothing would surprise me - that's in another post ;) But I'm hoping to be there at some point that day.

Can't agree with your last line tho'. Due to the timing of all this, the house is likely to be empty for a while so I'll still be paying the mortgage with no income from the house :(

[Peter Pedant]

I have only got CCJ's if the tenant really p+sses me off.

alot are not paying the rent as they dont have the money
and having moved ( av cost £2,000) they usually dont in the future either


The current one went on holiday and defaulted on that months rent. When I asked for rent she reply was : 'I dont really know what you expect me to do, I just dont have it...' and then calmly defaulted a bit more and used the money saved on paying the deposit for her next house. Her new landlords did not write to me silly silly people.....and the allegation of harassment

[CW1]

Thought CCJs were a natural progression if the "defendant" doesn't respond, turn up to court, etc. ? Did you not start action after the 1st month was missed ? Knowing what I know now, think I would've.

My one has the money, he's been telling me how flush he is at the moment, but trouble is, I believe he thinks the letting agent have the money from an advance he paid 2 years ago that *they* say was used to pay a month he defaulted "sometime" but can't give a date so he can challenge it. He's already proved he's paid other times they say he didn't. I've been patient but when all said 'n done, *he* owes me the money. Down to him to get it back from the letting agency, far as I'm concerned.

The "threat" of legal action *might* be enough, & the solicitor who said he'd ring after 3:30pm hasn't - so far. Might of known, being recommended by the letting agent, that they too would prove unreliable.

D'you think an e-mail threatening legal action would count as a "letter-before-action" ? I'm really not going to be able to get to the house until he goes, & a letter would take days. I'm thinking e-mail & text him today, say if not paid by eob tomorrow, I'll start the action.

[Peter Pedant]

actually I am going to court on precisely that

I say the tenant didnt pay Sep 13 and she says she did.

then she tried it again May 14. Returned from holiday and yes she had had a good hol but could she pay rent on the 20th of each month ?
On May 21st I said where's the rent, it is after the 20th .
She did look as tho she meant June 20th ( but that would be two months rent etc etc ) and I had a s21 termination notice just filled out and just brought along with me.... out by June 9th.

I had been warned. She had blabbed. Someone came up to me and said one of your tenants is gonna default and when you evict her, can I have the tenancy for my daughter ? (April 2014)

[CW1]

I sympathise, I really do. This is one of the many reasons I'm now going to sell even though it couldn't be happening at a worse time of year for me.

I've the Property Ombudsman involved now too, the letting agent has been so unbelievably inept, even to the point now where they're apologising profusely for breaching the Code of Practice at the 1st hurdle by taking 8 days to acknowledge my complaint ! The one person who manages the customer service e-mail account I sent the complaint to was off unexpectedly & no one covered her duties while she was off ! That is just *typical* of the way this outfit operates.

I've e-mailed the tenant now saying I'll be starting legal proceedings on Wednesday if I've not received what he owes tomorrow, & a friend in the area's delivering a hard copy of that e-mail to the house tonight. Now I wait.

[Peter Pedant]

and good luck ...

not every tenant wrecks the house.....

This sounds as tho this is your first go, and I am sorry it has gone sour.
I thank God my first tenants were really nice....

I dunno selling now seems a good idea if you can get the money.
Remember even if it is now your second house if you lived their in the recent past then there is no CGT.