Licensee leaving with outstanding rent & bills

Aye Bosun

I have a licensee in my house under the rent a room scheme. He's been living with me 2 years. He is due to move on Saturday coming and has an outstanding debt for rent and bills. I have a deposit which I took at the beginning but this does not clear the debt, leaves it about €400 short.
I have informed him 3 weeks ago that this must be cleared before he departs the house. By text message I gave him the total due and I have also spoken to him twice in the last week about it, both times he assured me it would be cleared. Last night we spoke and he said he would vacate the room on Saturday morning and clear the debt. I was out last night and returned this morning to find all this belonging gone, room cleared and no sign of him.

Now he has until Saturday to clear this as agreed by both of us, but I'm just a bit worried now that he's gone earlier than he said he would and no sign of the money he owes. So I just want to get my house in order and find out if he does not pay this debt what are my options to pursue him for it? I'm not holding my breathe about it appearing on Saturday morning, he has always been a hassle to get the rent from and has been in one way or another later with payments since April 2013.

As he is a licensee, the option of the PRTB is not available to me. When looking online this morning about the small claims court, I note with interest that they only deal with deposit retention for licensees. This is the wording from the SCC site.Type of claims dealt with

(a) a claim for goods or services bought for private use from someone selling them in the course of a business (consumer claims)
(b) a claim for goods or services bought for business use from someone selling them in the course of a business (business claims)
(c) a claim for minor damage to property (but excluding personal injuries)
(d) a claim for the non-return of a rent deposit for certain kinds of rented properties. For example, a holiday home or a room / flat in a premises where the owner also lives provided that a claim does not exceed €2,000.

Claims in respect of other matters relating to rented accommodation must be brought to: Private Residential Tenancies Board, 2nd Floor, O'Connell Bridge House, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. Website: www.prtb.ie


Excluded from the small claims procedure are claims arising from:

(a) a hire-purchase agreement
(b) a breach of a leasing agreement
(c) debts


So I am left a bit baffled now as it appears I cannot use the small claims court to pursue this debt as stated above.


Anyone got any words of wisdom on this? Just to note I am not looking for legal advise, just a for someone to point me in the right direction.

wmpdd3

I don't think the ssc is going to deal with this one. Its more if you are a consumerand lose your deposit from a holiday home you rented.

I think your only option would be a solicitor, so really, take it one the nose and move on.