A landlord has been left open-mouthed after a tenant walked away from court without having to pay a penny of the £20,000 of damage he caused to a rented property.

Teenage tenant, Lee Davis destroyed many of the fixtures and fittings inside the rented property in Darlington after being asked to vacate the property following non-payment of rent.  To most tenants that would be a fair request, but to Mr Davis it was a red rag to a bull.

The Judge admitted he would like nothing better than to make Mr Davis pay the costs of repairing the rental property, but his hands were tied as the defendant clearly didn’t have the means to pay.  As punishment, the ‘spiteful’ tenant has been ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid community service which doesn’t seem like any kind of justice to us.

This problem is actually quite common and usually comes about when a discrepancy occurs between the tenant and the landlord.  Sometimes it’s because of unpaid rent, sometimes it’s noise problems and other times it can be the slightest altercation that can set a problem tenant off on a rampage.  These problems can be avoided by conducting a series of in-depth checks when the tenant applies to live in the property.

We don’t believe any such checks were made in Mr Davis’s case or if they were there were probably fraudulent pieces of information given.  A thorough tenant check requires financial checks, credit checks, employment checks and so on to ensure that a tenant is who they say they are, has the means to pay for their rent and is going to be treating the property well.  £20,000 to pay for damages is not a sum that is available to the majority of landlords and we think this one may write off his loss and sell the property on.

If you have suffered at the hands of a problem tenant it’s wise to make sure it never happens again by using a service such as the one we provide here at Tenant Registry.  With more and more people flooding the rental market you’ll get instant peace of mind that you’ve made all the necessary checks (and then some!) to ensure your tenant is legitimate and a ‘good egg’!

We hear all too often about tenants causing problems within properties.  It’s often a case of if the tenant has little then they are more likely to have nothing to lose by trashing your property.  As this case clearly shows they can’t be made to pay for the damage and Mr Davis’s community service certainly won’t be spent clearing up the damage he caused in the rented property.

Whilst conducting the most thorough of tenant checks won’t guarantee problems won’t arise you will be covering your back as much as possible.  You should also ensure that your landlord insurance is fully up to date and that it covers malicious damage by a tenant.

Sarah