Tenants not paying rent

I was always advised to rent on a long term basis - on the pretext that anyone long term would look after the house better than anyone who rented short term/holiday let; and that it may be less money per month, but in the long term it was financially better.

After three years of letting this way - and thousands of pounds worth of bills - and having to deal with letting agents who returned the deposit to the tenants without checking the house/inventory I threw the towel in!!   I have stopped letting.  The house is for my sole use now - no rent money.... but more importantly no hassle!!

Or after 3 years of the long term renters paying my mortgage for me i ran into a few costs that were unexpected?

you could also put it in those words.

 Beware of a British couple  and (names supplied on request) - They rented our house in La Cala, didn't pay the rent and finally left owing us 2,500 Euros. The house was also left in a state. He still works for Club La Costa apparently but there is little we can do.

This message was last edited by daveandnicky on 13/04/2012.

 I am not sure that we mention names on this site in this way. However I do understand your situation as we had this often in the UK and there, something can be done, but the process is costly and lengthy for the landlord, and still the money is never recovered.

Why not mention the names

D&N have not said anything slanderous just stated some facts that i sure appreciate knowing which I am sure they would have made sure are factually correct before stating them.

Next we will be quoted their poor human rights....

They have the chance to reply?

One lesson that may be learnt is that as landlords if you credit check people at thier last know UK address you will probably find they did not have the greatest credit rating to start with. If you cant find them at any address there is probably a reason for that too !

 Proffesional thieves like Wayne Ward and Lara Crawford should always be named. Make no mistake about it, renting and not paying rent is stealing money. Sooner this type of action is declared criminal rather than civil the better.

Damage/wear & tear is harder to define as damaging or tearing something is payable by the tenant but it can depend on your perspective. However stealing money is easy to prove and document but very hard to recover. Perhaps Spain should take a leaf out of Jeremy Clarkson book and 'take them outside and shoot them'. lol

Well done daveandnicky for highlighting this couple.

Maybe we have turned a corner. Ex tenants have made contact and promise to pay in full ASAP. We will see.

Hmm ... 2 months later and they have disappeared - Professional thieves indeed!

 I Fell behind with my rent through no falt of my own, (ripped off by a fellow expat), now back on my feet I am repaying the arrears  monthly, (one payment left YEEEA). I'm here for the long haul and therefore want no Problems here but however all expats are not the same ans this casts shadows over us all. I feel for property owners who are ripped off like this. Alot of people are suffering the crisis here. But disscussing problems with your landlord will ALWAYS bring the best results !!

 They, of course, have not paid a thing. Promise again not met. I will keep trying...

 i have had it the opposit way. I left my flat in March and still never received any of my deposit back from the landlord 3 months later. The landlord has deleted me from facebook and doesnt reply to any of my emails. I left all my furniture in the flat which he had originally agreed to buy off me.. so not only has he stole my deposit but also my furniture. Any lawyers I go to ask for 1000euros fee which takes away half of what i should be getting.

I really love Barcelona but I have heard a few people have had the same trouble gettiing their deposit back from Landlords. I guess there is nothing you can do. Especially if you have lived there for a year or more there is bound to be some wear to the house, the landlord can just deduct from the deposit in the last month!

 If you know where they work then why not invest in 60eur to be paid to a lawyer for a few phone calls and perhaps a burofax delivered to their work address.  Surely that should embarrass them enough to cough up?

 Hi Fixit, we have already sent 2 Burofaxes and still nothing. They have said all along that they will pay but have now stopped repliying to anything we send. They have no shame I'm sure as it was his 'friend' from Star La Cala who recommended him and said they didn't need to do any checks because he was a personal friend. Of course he denied knowing him that well after we'd paid Star La Cala the finders fee!

The lawyer has said that he is ready to go to court but we are worried that it will cost us another load of money that we don't have and may not even get (if he does another runner from work!)

 Awful to say but I'm in the rentals business and have always refused to deal with prospective tenants that work in timeshare.  This is the third bad tenant story that I have heard thats worked for CLC.  Surely if the agent was doing a favour for a friend, then he should've forfeited his commission!  haha.... is if!  Sadly tenants never come with a guarantee, but it's imperative to obtain documentation and references, although no doubt they would've provided phoney references if need be.  

Rest assured that low-quality people like this will always, always get their come uppance eventually - its called karma.  Good luck!