Tenant has moved out and destroyed furniture – refusing to pay?

A tenant of mine moved out owing £3,500 worth of rent. She was very apologetic, it wasn’t her fault, etc, and promised to pay me back in time. As I knew I would never see it, I drew up a loan agreement for that amount, and suggested to her that as she would no longer be my tenant, it was now in fact a loan from me to her. To my surprise she agreed to a payment plan and signed it. After two £50 payments she stopped paying, as I suspected she would. I took her to Small Claims court and won. They implemented another payment plan which so far (over a year now) she is sticking to. She clearly doesn’t want a CCJ against her. You could offer to forget about the damage and just go for the outstanding rent in a loan agreement. Any money back is better than no money back.

Student Landlord you are quite correct the action of the tenant would meet the definition of Criminal Damage, the problem the landlord, and the police, have is there is no way to prove who did the damage unless one of them own up and say "yes it was me." The police are often criticised for how they treat landlord tenant disputes. Sometimes the comments are fair sometimes they are not and they used to be taught to tell one party or the other it's a civil dispute and leave them to it, but I don't think that 's the case these days. It all comes down to being able to identify the perpetrator.
This type of question often comes up and the one thing that in agreed by most is:
Landlords are lucky indeed if they get anything back from such tenants. Go for a ccj but don't stress about the rights and wrongs of life as a landlord and don't expect to actually get your money back. Accept you are the devil's own son, and move on. You will only give yourself heart ache and a head ache if you pursue them to the end and you will have spent more money chasing them and end up loosing more money than they have already cost you.

I would agree a good insurance policy would go a long way to cover the costs and that is the better way to go.

Good luck, move on, move forward.

Reply to the comment left by Student Landlord at 27/04/2023 - 13:41
Police will dodge their duty saying it is a civil matter.
Sorry but I fear that is the harsh reality.

You have almost 0 chance of ever recovering the money. Literally close to 0

My wife wanted to sue our tenant so she could put a mark on his name. But what's the point? It helps other landlords for a while, but ultimately it disappears eventually. It is close to 0 chance you will get paid

I took a tenant to court for just over 4k, I was awarded just over 1k and told I was "lucky" by the Judge, while suffering lies and slander in court by the tenant and family.
I had all the paperwork, photo's etc and I saw not a penny, she sent me a cheque for £17 which did not cash lol, lucky no charge for the cheque.
ccj great, they just used her partners name for 6 years...
Oh so classy they waited until her guarantor (lovely honest gent her grandad) died and they buried the assests left it over a year before I was informed...
To be honest it isadly is rarely worth it, touch wood, this is my only court loss and I am not sure if I would go back again :/

Reply to the comment left by Chris H at 27/04/2023 - 21:40
We don't need the hassle. Use your money where it will make you happy. That's not BTL! Let shelter, councils, and the government find them homes.

Reply to the comment left by Blodwyn at 27/04/2023 - 19:54
As an ex police officer although they may try and fob it off as civi, in this instance it would clearly seem to meet the definition of criminal damage and you should report it and give a statement. They can then be arrested for this offence and hopefully you have a record of all the evidence. Getting them convicted of criminal damage would be a nice win for a life time criminal record and you would also get awarded the compensation by the court.

Reply to the comment left by Terry Scaife at 29/04/2023 - 09:19
Thank you Terry, one lives in hope!

The damage reported falls within the scope of Criminal law and NOT Civil Law. It is a matter for the Police who are tasked with dealing with criminal activities.
Some years back (when I was a single property landlord) I had a tenant who was fine at first. She had a guarantor. Next year she went downhill and paid no one. I had to get her and 4 youngsters out.
When I recovered the property there were items missing, i.e. washing machine and combi oven were missing. Top branded items and supplied as new to me two months before.
There was other damage like broken glass and bathroom shower damage. Shower was hanging off wall, control panel split and exposed wiring. These I could deal with.
I reported at first instance to police. At the time (aged 72) it was only the second time in my life that I had been in a police station.
The Desk Clerk (not police) said it was a civil matter and refused to provide a crime reference number. She wouldn't listen . I told her I was au fait with the distinction between Criminal and Civil Law. I asked to speak to a constable or higher. None available she said.
I came back next day when I knew of shift handover time and got a female constable. "Civil matter" she said and despatched me.
I wrote to the Chief Constable and provided him with some Law Reports and authorities. I sent him relevant literature. Four weeks later I had a response - it was to attend the local station for an "interview".
I got a crime reference number. When I asked how long it would take to arrest the criminal I was told that "investigations would continue" and the DPP would consider all the evidence before deciding whether or not to prosecute.
Meanwhile, the criminaloid was seeking accommodation elsewhere. The council put her and children in emergency accommodation.
The DPP decided that they would not pursue her as it was not in the "public interest" to do so. So the criminaloid was free to carry on stealing with impunity from the law.
I sued her in the civil court for damages for the loss of the washing machine and combi oven. The claim was for £1,044 "as new). The case was heard without appearance from either party.
The district judge awarded me £890.00. I was pleased with that judgement. Not a penny has been recovered despite having the judgement registered and debt collectors involved.
The latest I heard was that the criminaloid had run up massive depths with many actors.
The children were being cared for by the LA from tax payers contributions.
Yes I had a part to play in that by chasing the criminal for what was mine.
I am comfortable with that.
So, in conclusion pursue all avenues open to you and in doing so slow up the pace of these scoundrels.

Reply to the comment left by Terry Scaife at 29/04/2023 - 09:19
If a person without lawful authority or reasonable excuse destroys or damages property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or is being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged shall be guilty of an offence." What isn't stated in this definition is who has caused the damage, but by inference it must read a person who it can be proved has destroyed or damaged the property.
I wouldn't disagree with the point of view that it is criminal damage, however the CPS would not take it on based on the lack of evidence as to the individual who caused the damage. Sadly no custody officer would authorise detention let alone charge if the evidence was "well sarge, he/she lived there with his/her partner and the place was ok when they moved in so he/she must have done it."
Speaking as a retired police officer I know the frustrations of dealing with situations where logic says "it was him." but the reality was "now prove it."
Lets say CPS had a funny turn and took it to court the prosecution would be required to proof "beyond all reasonable doubt" that the person charged was responsible. All he/she needs to say was "it was him/her not me. Now prove otherwise. " That is why police officers do not arrest the tenants not because they fob it off as a civil matter. As I said previously in the past officers were told to tell the parties involved it was a civil matter, but not now. However the end is still the same, the tenant gets away with it. At best he gets arrested to interview and a club number, bailed and subsequently "no further action. "
The civil route does have the benefit of proof needed is only one of probability, so therefore the judge might say it was probably the tenant who caused the damage. Go for a CCJ but do not expect to get a result that you benefit from, hope it doesn't happen again.