Let without checking T's references- lesson to others!

[markyparky]

I had the tenants from hell renting my property who were trying to claim compensation from me for various things but because i did everything by the book they couldnt get anything out of me so they decided to wreck the house and leave a mass of debts.

My mistake was not checking references properly - A word of warning to all Landlords - always check all references and do not be tempted to let someone rent who cannot provide good references - the bad guys prey on amatuer landlords who put adverts in the local press!

Anyway when the tenants left they had left lots of personal letters and debt letters throughout the house & as I am going to pursue them for the debts I was wondering if i can use these letters as my own evidence to show what bad characters they were?

Thanks Mark.

[mind the gap]

I had the tenants from hell renting my property who were trying to claim compensation from me for various things but because i did everything by the book they couldnt get anything out of me so they decided to wreck the house and leave a mass of debts.

My mistake was not checking references properly - A word of warning to all Landlords - always check all references and do not be tempted to let someone rent who cannot provide good references - the bad guys prey on amatuer landlords who put adverts in the local press!

Anyway when the tenants left they had left lots of personal letters and debt letters throughout the house & as I am going to pursue them for the debts I was wondering if i can use these letters as my own evidence to show what bad characters they were?

Thanks Mark.

Absolutely not, since that would be tantamount to admitting you have tampered with their mail, which is a criminal offence.

Don't go there.

[markyparky]

The letters have been left opened, so are you sure that this is the same thing?

[mind the gap]

Even if you can prove that you, personally, did not open them, a court would take a dim view of what you are proposing. There are laws about what you can do with T's private possessions, including mail, and using it as you suggest is not one of them.

Tralw this forum for threads of 'disposal of T's property' and 'distraint of goods'.

[Ericthelobster]

The letters have been left opened, so are you sure that this is the same thing?

And when the tenants deny emphatically in court that they ever left opened letters in the house?

Anyway, you need to convince the court that the tenants owe you money; why would you think that the court will think it more likely that this is the case just because the tenants happen to be in debt to someone else too? (playing devil's advocate somewhat, but you get the picture?)

[Rodent1]

I would take a slighly different approach with these letters.

1.Keep them for later they WILL be useful.
2.Put debt collector onto T for o/s monies.
3.When monies received,do your duty as an upstanding person; inform all co's chasing money from them of their new whereabouts.

DONT inform them until you have your cash, as this will seriously dilute your chances of you getting yours !

Revenge is a patient dish served much later and very cold !

The Rodent

[markyparky]

Thanks for replies

Thanks for you posts & I get what you are saying so wont be using them.

The situation was that the tenants had left the open letters in various places in
the house but I guess i cannot that anyway - so in the bin!!

I suppose all the solicitors notices & emails sent are sufficient evidence anyway and I also took pictures of the condition of property.

Funnily enough I managed to get hold of their previous landlord who said they left a pile of opened letters and a loads of damage in his property.

Was a couple from wales who seemed really nice - well you live and learn!

Thanks for help

[ryouga]

1 thing I will pull up on is that I personally would find it hard to find references to get a place but that doesnt mean im a bad tenant nor many others like me though I understand the reasoning.

Mine is mainly the flipside though as most of the places I have stayed came from newspaper ads and my first landlord was dodgy, then my 2nd was fine but ripped me off for a weeks rent but I let it slide not knowing the law, then lived at home again for 2 years, then lived back with the 2nd landlords bedsit again for a year until he illegally evicted me, then stayed somewhere for 4 years but landlord isnt the sort that gives references, then was with an agency for a year which was fine until the end when again I left on bad terms bringing me to now apart from the 2 times I stayed in halls for a while so unless I can get a reference from university accomodation I cant get ANY references and as I have been a student most of my adult life its again hard to get a work reference as ironically 2 places I worked long term are now bust, and another was a holiday park and management has changed a lot since then.

[Wet]

You have very obviously opened post addrressed to tenant and that puts u in the down side, You have total FA legal standing if you have, ur gona get done for interference with Royal Mail etc


Best of luck!

[Rodent1]

I would take a slighly different approach with these letters.

1.Keep them for later they WILL be useful.
2.Put debt collector onto T for o/s monies.
3.When monies received,do your duty as an upstanding person; inform all co's chasing money from them of their new whereabouts.

DONT inform them until you have your cash, as this will seriously dilute your chances of you getting yours !

Revenge is a patient dish served much later and very cold !

The Rodent

If above approach is used then you shouldn't get any problems , most DC companies are only to glad to get some sort of update on situation, and it is the mosr effective way of stopping tons of unwanted mail arriving, When caling them you are merely cinfirmingthat you are the owner of the prop and passing on forwarding address.

OR IF YOU REALLY HAVE SOME PROBLENM WITH TAMPERING WITH MAIL THEN:

Get a fresh envelope put the UNOPENED one inside along with a note informing sender of NEW address for xT and confirming that they no longer reside at the address.

There is always more than one way to skin a cat!

IF for any reason the envelope has been opened then re-seal it marked "opened in error" .

The Rodent

[Mars Mug]

Maybe these letters were deliberately left by the tenants to bait the landlord into making a costly mistake?

[Ericthelobster]

Maybe these letters were deliberately left by the tenants to bait the landlord into making a costly mistake?

Leaving personal correspondence lying around when you move out does sound an odd thing to do 'by mistake'; and the fact that they did the same thing with the previous landlord does sound decidedly peculiar.