Deposit recovery after vexatious bullying claim and no address?

Deposit recovery after vexatious bullying claim and no address?

9:05 AM, 6th January 2022, About 2 years ago 46

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A tenant of mine left my flat with about £7,000 rent arrears: £6,300 during the tenancy and another £750 or so after refusing to vacate, and only leaving after a possession order hearing date had been given.

I have a £5,000 CCJ, which he is required to pay £200 per month.

I’m trying to reclaim his £1,265 deposit, but he is contesting this saying that I bullied him to leave before getting a possession order by threatening him with court action (!) if he didn’t leave.

He is refusing mediation, and the deposit company say I can only recover the deposit with a court order. Unfortunately, I don’t have an address for him.

How can I get a court order to recover my money without an address for him?

Many thanks

Tom


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Comments

Seething Landlord

0:02 AM, 11th January 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tom Crispin at 10/01/2022 - 16:15
If you are going to make a further money claim anyway, why not consider killing two birds with one stone by claiming the whole £1300 with a request for an order that the balance of the deposit be paid to you by the DPS?

Tom C

8:41 AM, 11th January 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 11/01/2022 - 00:02
"If you are going to make a further money claim anyway, why not consider killing two birds with one stone by claiming the whole £1300 with a request for an order that the balance of the deposit be paid to you by the DPS?"

A good question, and one I had not considered until yesterday.

The £500 held by DPS is low lying fruit. The £5,000 CCJ makes up the bulk of the tree. The remaining £750-£800 will be the sweetest fruit at the top.

As I don't have my former tenant's address or employment details, there is a chance I will get either or both in the process of obtaining (or trying to obtain) a third party debt order. That would then give me a route to recovery of some or part of the remainder of the £5,000 and the £750-£800.

My next step is to put together the Third Party Debt order paperwork, and then WhatsApp my former tenant to check that this is the route he wants to follow. It may just be that he will release the money.

If I put together a combined claim (£1300 claim + £500 order) I think he is less likely to just give up his £500 as he has more to lose.

Nick Pope

14:42 PM, 23rd January 2022, About 2 years ago

I am in the process of getting a deposit from the DPS and had to go down the Statutory Declaration route. From a third party, I know the tenant will not respond and that he has no access to the email address, phone number etc. on the DPS file. The stat. dec. was lodged just before Xmas so was not registered with DPS until 5th January. The 14 days allowed for the tenant to respond expired a couple of days ago so I should receive the deposit soon. I can't be more specific but this is a really strange situation that I have never encountered before in 5o years of dealing with rental property. And before anyone asks, no I can't elaborate at the moment!

Seething Landlord

15:16 PM, 23rd January 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Nick Pope at 23/01/2022 - 14:42
Perhaps when you feel able you could say what you think is strange about the situation.

Seething Landlord

18:05 PM, 23rd January 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tom Crispin at 11/01/2022 - 08:41
Tom, I don't know how far you have got with all this but it just struck me that you should be aware of a legal defence called "res judicata" which roughly translates as "a matter judged" and prohibits multiple legal actions between the same parties arising out of the same cause i.e. as far as possible everything should be dealt with at the same time. I am not saying that your proposed strategy will fall foul of this but it is something that you might have to contend with.

Smartermind

10:04 AM, 4th February 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by neilt at 06/01/2022 - 13:53
The OP wrote: "I have a £5,000 CCJ, which he is required to pay £200 per month."

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