Tracing a missing tenant

If you’re a private landlord who’s new to the world of property letting, you may not have encountered a situation where your tenant vanishes without having paid their rent.

But it happens occasionally, especially if the initial checks weren't thorough enough. And when it does, it's a difficult process to handle.

Tenants usually disappear when they have fallen into arears and fear there is no way out. Perhaps the tenant has lost their job or owes money to other people, in which case tracing them may not even help you recoup your losses.

Or you may find they are simply unreliable renters who you will come to regret having ever let your property to. 

During Covid-19, landlords were not allowed to evict tenants, even if they owed rent. That ban has now lifted and since then, we have had several calls to our tenant tracing service indicating some landlords are facing the problem of unpaid debt.

Tracing tenant who owes money

 

Professional tenant tracing services

So what should you do if your tenant has vanished? How do you find them?

First, you need to establish exactly how much money you are owed and whether there’s any damage to the property itself. If there are substantial repairs to be carried out, as well as debt to be recovered, you may need to consider taking legal action against the tenant in a small claims court.

You may also need to look at how much of a deposit you hold on behalf of the tenant. 

If you instruct a solicitor to help track down your rogue renter, it can prove costly. Because of this, many landlords conduct their own searches and in some cases, tenants can be traced through social media channels like Facebook or other internet platforms.

However, by far the most effective path for tenant tracing is to hire the services of a professional tenant tracing agency like Vilcol. Tenant tracing firms charge a fee but can be trusted to get the job done. 

It’s really important to check first if the debtor tracing agent you’re using has the right credentials. The last thing you want when trying to track down debt is to instruct an unreliable tenant and debt tracing company.

If you’re unsure who to use, check the references and testimonials on their website. This should list their past clients, who are verifiable, as well as customer feedback that will give you a steer as to the professionalism of the tenant tracing agency you are researching. 

 

Tenancy agreement can help tenant debtor search

 

How agencies search for rogue tenants

Trusted professional tenant tracing and people and debt tracing agencies use methods not generally available to members of the public like specialist software programmes. 

When we are contacted by landlords who are trying to trace a tenant who owes them money, we first ask for as much information as possible. The more the better as this significantly helps speed up the service.

Tracing people who have gone missing can be time-consuming but if we have enough information provided, it can be a quick turnaround. Our investigators are thorough and careful not to alert suspicions when carrying out their enquiries. 

We offer a range of different packages and prices for finding people but for all our services we provide a report containing whatever findings we have uncovered.

Asking Vilcol to trace a tenant is straight-forward and we provide quick results. Just select our trace a person option here