Dealing with Difficult Tenants

By Cara Wiltshire, Legal Assistant at Woodstock Legal Services

Every day within debt recovery, Woodstock Legal Services deal with tenants who have left their rented property owing significant costs in rent arrears, whilst also dealing with those who have damaged property and have left it as it is. This can be super stressful for the landlord as they are owed so much money and have no idea if or when they will be able to recover this debt from their ex-tenants. This also causes delays in re-letting the property, causing further stress for the landlord.

What to do if a tenant damages the property?

1.Eviction – getting that difficult tenant out of the property should be the top priority

2. Security deposits – In most cases where a rental property is damaged, the landlord has the right to keep all or part of the security deposit to cover the costs of the damage

3. Suing the tenant for property damage – if the costs and repairs of the damage exceed the amount of the security deposit, the landlord could consider filing a lawsuit in a civil court to help recover their losses. However, it must be taken into consideration that this is not an easy option and can come with a lot of stress. Even if the claim is successful, if the tenant does not have any assets or money to repay the costs, the landlord will not be able to collect anything from them. This means the landlord will still be covering the costs out of their own pocket.

It is important to remember that there are so many options out there to help landlords recover these costs, and legal advice is universally available to those in need of it.