Tenant has left property before end of contract - advice required please

[pa2009]

Hi all

I have been renting my property through a letting agent for some time. The property was rented out to a tenant who signed a 12 month contract (no break clause) but had to leave the property for personal reasons. The tenant was informed that he would be liable for any rent until the property is re-let - he accepted and agreed to this via email.

It now turns out that the tenant has left the property but has failed to pay for last month's rent (the letting agent only informed me after the tenant left the property). The letting agent (nor I) have any forwarding address for the tenant who has left the country.

The letting agent does have the deposit, which will cover a months rent but the property has not been re-let yet, so I will be out of pocket. I, along with the letting agent, have tried to contact the tenant via phone and email, but have had no response.

What are my options? Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to go through the expense of tracking the tenant outside of the UK, but would like to know whether I can do anything that would affect the tenant should he return to the UK (e.g. adverse credit rating, etc).

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

[jeffrey]

Well, you could sue T; and aim at registering a CCJ (reducing the likelihood of others giving him credit).