Don’t worry; this is not necessarily a regular occurrence. In all my years of being a landlord it has only happened to me twice and even then it was partly my fault. This was because it turns out that the tenant had a history of CCJs against them. I failed to pick this up, because I didn’t carry out the appropriate credit checks. Let this be a lesson for you!

A tenant that does a bunk normally does so because they are in arrears. Therefore, where a tenant has not been paying their rent, I would half expect this to happen. One of the vital bits of information that you need when taking legal action to recover a debt, is the person’s residential address. This allows the requisite notices to be served, during the course of the proceedings. Off course many debtors, particularly the serial ones are very aware of this, which is precisely why they just ‘disappear’.

How then do I trace them to recover my money?

There are several routes that you can go down in trying to locate your tenants. Firstly, there is the professional route. There are numerous agencies that specialise in tracing debtors. Simply enter debt trace or a variant expression into Google and you will get a host of companies specialising in this activity. Rates are normally between £40-50 and the good thing is that many of them charge on a ‘no find no fee basis’. Have a look at our Recommended Links for some of the industries leading tracing agents.

Alternatively, you can try and do the work yourself.
The process of being an amateur sleuth can be quite exciting. What you are trying to establish to enable you to take proceedings against them is:

* A residential address

* Are they employed you can get a attachment of earnings order

So where do I begin?
The best way to start is gather all the information you have on your tenant: their name, date of birth, employer. If you have been having problems with their payments, hopefully you will have started to find out as much about them already.

Once you have discovered that they have gone, visit the property and see if there are any remaining details or post that might give you some clues as to their where abouts. Ask the neighbours. Contact employers or any associates to see if you can glean any additional information, such as are they still employed? It may well be that you get lucky, with somebody giving you information on their where abouts. More likely, they will ‘play dumb’, or refuse to answer on the grounds of contravening the Data Protection Act.

It’s a frustrating process, because you know these organisations have the information on file that would allow you to take action against these ‘criminals’. After all that is what they are; they have stolen your money. They have taken a service from you without paying. Don’t feel sorry for them as you hunt them down and try and bring them to justice.

If you have gone as far as you can with the information you can find through traditional means. It’s now time to carry on your search in the world of Cyberspace. You may not be aware of just how much personal information is posted on the Web. For instance the popularity of www.friendsreunited.co.uk means that if you have a name you will probably be able to find out about this persons background and possibly even their current living arrangements.

In addition, every household is required by law to complete an annual Register of Electors form which provides an up to date list of all householders over the age of 18. This information is available free from your local council, or you can go online and do a search using no more than an individual’s name. For as little as £5 using a website such as www.firstlocate.com you can find the registered address of any UK citizen. Obviously, not all individuals register, particularly if they don’t wish to be traced. Also because it is only carried out once a year if the person has recently moved, it will probably wont pick up their new address.

Credit referencing agencies such as Experian or Equifax hold huge amounts of personal data including details from the Register of Electors with which to assess an individual’s credit risk. These companies therefore hold information relating to what credit an individual has applied for and most importantly, where these people live. This information can be assessed directly or through third parties such as tenant referencing agents. Either way the information is out there but you will have to be careful that you do not fall foul of the data protection laws. Happy hunting!

My experience has shown that whilst it is possible to find out details about your tenant, it’s the all important new address that is normally illusive. The process is, like many other landlord activities, time consuming. Using a professional tracing company give you access to sources that are not available to you as an individual. The £40-50 fee can be deducted from the tenants deposit monies, but only if provided for by the Agreement. In my view given the time saving benefit and the fact you only pay if they can trace the tenant anyway its money well spent.

At the end of all this detective work what you really want is the tenants home address and to
establish if they are employed and where. This should be enough to enable you to obtain a court judgement against them to repay the debt along with an attachment to earning order that ensures that debt is repaid directly from their salary. If they are not working then unless you are confident that they have sufficient assets to repay the debt you are probably best writing it off.

Chris Horne has 20 years experience as a property professional having worked for companies such as English Partnerships and Drivers Jonas as a planning and surveying consultant.

He now works full time as a investor and property developer.

He also has developed the site Property Hawk targeted at UK Landlords it provides FREE Property Management Software.
Property Hawk also includes a mass of Buy to Let targeted information, FREE Tenancy agreements, Inventory Forms, financial and management tools. Its primary aim is to make managing property simpler for UK Landlords.

propertyhawk.co.uk is the Landlord’s Homepage

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