|
|
Question Title: Defaulting Tenant
| Question: 349 |
| One of my tenants has stopped paying the rent and has moved into arrears. He has not responded to any of my telephone calls chasing the rent and I am about to start possession proceedings. I am thinking of applying pressure on the tenant following your advice that once the case has been heard in court and a judgment awarded, we could apply for an attachment of earnings order on his employer. However, I have read that sending reminders to his work could constitute harassment and a criminal offence.
|
| Answer: |
| You are right to start possession proceedings as promptly as possible if you have a tenant who has stopped paying and will not respond to telephone calls. The fact that the tenant is employed is also very relevant as it gives you an alternative contact point should he 'do a runner', or if you need to enforce the debt. However, you must be careful how you use this information. There was a case in 1996 (Molyneux-Child v Coe) where a landlord was convicted of harassment when he sent faxes to his tenant at his workplace. The facts of the case were that the tenant was in arrears for the sum of £400. The landlord faxed the tenant letters to work demanding that she leave the property within 4 days, followed by something which purported to be notice before action and alleging that she owed him £4,807 (representing the amount owed for rest of the fixed term for entire property). The landlord ran a large property company, and should have known that he was not entitled to immediate possession and that he was not owed the amount he claimed. The tenant, whose duties at work included security, was embarrassed by the letters. The tenant was awarded damages of £750 against the landlords for breach of quiet enjoyment. Because a fax sent to his work was effectively an open letter, and not a private communication, the Judge held that the letters were sent to embarrass and constituted breach of his rights to quiet enjoyment. Equally, contacting the tenant's employer at this stage, where you have not already obtained a judgment for the debt in the county court would also be risky and again might potentially fall foul of the harassment rules. On the other hand, you are not prevented from sending rent reminders to your tenant - these do not constitute harassment (provided they do not contain unlawful threats of eviction without due process - such as the previous example). Furthermore, you are entitled to explain your rights to collect any future debt (and the court costs associated with collecting it) through his employer once judgment has been obtained - this is generally a very effective way of persuading the tenant that it is time to pay up, and stays within the law.
|
|
References:
|
Pages:
|
Hyperlinks:
|
|
Letting Update Journal |
Jan 2004 page 17 |
letting-update-journal.html
|
|
Letting Handbook |
Chapter 12 |
letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html
|
For more information, discuss on the Forum
|
|
