Is it possible to recover debt over 10k from a UC tenant who’s disappeared?

Is it possible to recover debt over 10k from a UC tenant who’s disappeared?

0:01 AM, 15th November 2024, About 11 hours ago 1

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Hi, I’ve recently endured a 16-month process to evict a tenant who was receiving Universal Credit (UC). During that time, I only received 60% of the rent directly from UC, and the arrears kept piling up. By the time the court and bailiffs finally evicted the tenant, they owed me over £10,000 in unpaid rent. To make matters worse, they left the property in disrepair, which cost me an additional £6,000 to fix.

I have a judgment issued against them through Money Claim Online (MCOL), but I’ve hit a snag — I can’t request a warrant because the amount exceeds the small claims limit. It also appears there’s no mechanism to have deductions made from their UC benefits now that they’re no longer my tenant. I’m feeling stuck and unsure of how to proceed to recover this substantial debt.

I considered using a High Court Enforcement Officer, but it feels like this might just be a costly exercise yielding little results since I can’t track the tenant down. How can I locate the tenant’s new address? What are my options in this situation? Are there alternative enforcement methods I can pursue to reclaim the money owed to me?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kharim


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K Anon

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10:55 AM, 15th November 2024, About 21 minutes ago

I feel for you. I really do but somehow I think you need to put this down to an expensive lesson learnt.
I've had tenants on benefits and it was a shockingly traumatic experience.
Try to close the book and move on , you'll be chasing ghosts I'm afraid. I was left with damage, arrears and costs far exceeding yours but you'll spend even more chasing a shadow. I had their address as well but then what, they don't care and have no money so don't give a ....
Solicitors will take your money, UC not interested. It ( sense of injustice and frustration) eases over time but make sure you learn. Tough lesson, avoid risk. I won't touch benefits tenants with a bargepole now. Once bitten etc.

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