Rent Arrears Recovery
Legal Services
The Landlord Group has a team of experienced lawyers dedicated to residential rent arrears recovery. Helping landlords throughout the UK through the full recovery procedure, from tracing a former tenant through to the final stages of the county court proceedings. Below are the three main stages that we undertake to recover unpaid rent from tenants in residential properties.
If your tenant has vacated your property, whether residential or commercial, owing you money, you will first need to locate them before any action can be taken. We have a network of specialist tracing agents who are experts in the field of tracing former tenants. Use our fixed fee tenant tracing service to locate your tenant.
Within 48 hours of receiving your instruction our panel of lawyers will draft and send a solicitor's letter of demand, known as a letter before action, to your tenant. As a first line of inexpensive action, there is very little that works better in recovering rent arrears then a bespoke solicitor's letter before action. In our experience, most tenants pay up when they receive a formal solicitor’s letter threatening court action. Do you want your defaulting tenant to take you seriously?
The ultimate action, which you can take against a non-paying tenant, is to issue a county court claim against them. Once we have traced your former tenant, and if we think you have a strong enough claim, we will, upon your instruction, issue county court proceedings against your tenant to secure a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against them for the arrears. A County Court Judgment, if enforced, will have very serious consequences on your defaulting tenant's credit score. The threat of such proceedings can, in many cases, be enough to make your tenant reconsider their position and pay you what they owe. Once the CCJ is obtained we can discuss your enforcement options.