Christmas greetings to a tenant who did a runner

We decided not to send christmas cards this year, but have had to make one or two exceptions. Afterall, it'll be nice to wish certain people good cheer, even though they dont deserve it. So, I have just put together a little christmas card with a nice letter to a lady who used to rent from us a nice 3-bed detached house with lovely countryside views. Yes, she is an ex-tenant, but not one I would wish on any other landlord.

Lets call her Mrs T. So, Mrs T rents this house, and she's ok for a little while, then falls into arrears because she claimed her salary payments were erratic. Anyway, we agree a payment arrangement to spread arrears over 6 months, to help her get back on track. She makes the first one ok, the second one is late and only half of what was due - she claimed someone had stolen money from her account and the bank was looking into it. So many tenants pull that one nowadays... banks must be getting quite sloppy. Mrs T pays the third installment and then stopped altogether. Wouldn't respond to calls, letters even visits. Eventually, I find her in one day and she claims to have lost her job and was depressed etc.etc. Yeah! right!! so why bury head in the sand and think it will go away? I can get quite depressed too you know, if I let my tenant's shenanigans get to me. Goodness, gracious me, I'd be permanently depressed if that were the case.

Anyway, she turns on the waterworks (it always works) and as she has kids, I agree to let her stay provided she paid going forward and put something toward the arrears. Let's just say after 2 payments, she defaulted again, and this time, I went straight to court on a S8 ground 8 basis. She did a runner before hearing date, so I got immediate possession. And I was also able to get some housing benefit paid direct to me-but that was another fight in itself with the respective council. Oh boy, that story will be told later.

Needless to say Mrs T left the house in a mess, utter and complete mess, and it'll take some doing to get it back into tenantable condition. thankfully, no structural damage, just decor and rubbish, and cleaning. Oh, and an empty brand new box for a 37inch LCD TV (now did I say she was in arrears???!!). The white shower tray looked like it had not been cleaned in months, and outside tap that had broken was not reported, and she just piped the water via a hose into the drains which ofcourse just backed up and oveflowed due to the constant water into it. Junk and rubbish in garden. So many toys for her kids left behind, so we know what the rent money was used for. She'll probably be spending more of her rent money on more toys to replace the ones she left behind. Perhaps if she shopped at TopChristmasToys or StrictlyChristmasGifts, she'd save some money and still be able to pay some rent to her new unsuspecting landlord.

As I now know where she's moved to, I'm about to surprise her with a christmas card. Which is very thoughtful of me, or so I think anyway, though you might beg to differ. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when she opens the card and finds her statement of account and a copy of the court order with the money judgement.

Merry Christmas, dear ex-tenant Mrs T. I'll see you in the new year, or shall I say a high court sheriff will be calling on my behalf.