A university student who fled from his private rental apartment owing over £1,000 has posted a message on Facebook: “Catch me if you can.”
Local media in Lincoln report that two years into a course at the city’s university Erik Mikusauskas quit and left for a job in Greece.
The reports says that Mikusauskas, 20, had signed a tenancy agreement at a student house but fell into arrears and instead used the money to save for his new life.
“Well I applied for a job in Greece, got it and they provided a relocation package. I needed about three months’ rent to support myself. Basically, I saw my opportunity and I took it” he is quoted as saying.
Mikusauskas left his goading message on social media after being alerted to his being named in a post on behalf of his landlord, who wanted to know of his whereabouts in a bid to recover the rent that was owed.
“I mean he tried to expose me because he didn’t believe I have moved and didn’t bother asking me so I memed him. If I decided not to pay him there is very little he can to reclaim the money as my British bank account is empty and I don’t have any property in the UK” says the defiant former student.
“He can get a CCJ [county court judgement] against me but then again my credit score in the UK doesn’t matter and he’ll only be wasting more money. This isn’t an ideal situation but I refuse to be intimidated or bullied into it” he adds.
He says of his decision to flee without paying the rent owed: “I do [feel sympathy for the landlord] obviously but it’s being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“It’s either I pay him the money I had but I wouldn’t have any more to support myself while I tried to find a new full-time job in a small university city where there aren’t many full-time jobs available.
“Or I go to Greece to have a nice job and a better life. He’s not exactly bumming it either from what I’ve seen in the past.”
Mikusauskas says his intentions are to repay the debt at some time in the future.
You can see the local press story here.
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Disgusting, this is so typical of the 'snowflake generation' I hope the landlord puts a CCJ against his name
I have absolutely no words for this scumbag! I sincerely hope the people who are making the decisions against the PRS are watching, as he is far from the only one! This is the risk/reality of renting property
Believe me , he is not the only one, I have had this from both english and foreign tenants and they not only default rent by a few months, but they also rake up hundreds and thousands on gas water electricity bills but it costs me a lot more to chase them, so the most viable option is to let it go and move on. The parliament really need to get a grip with these rogue tenants and ocme up with a plan to deal with this problems as it is very rampant in southwest and i think in other parts of the country too. maybe we can get judgment and file with immigration? airport control?
Greece is not far enough away to run to. An international asset search will find what they have and where they are.
For just this reason I always ensure we photocopy the next of kin page in their passports when checking id etc. Although they are not always filled in it can give you a useful address to chase which is very often their parents who may simply settle the debt out of embarrassment.
or not, I had came across quite a few UK parents who are actively helping their kids to avoid rent payment and bills. I am sure a lot of us came across these type of tenants and guarantors in our journey in PRS
This is why RGI on the tenant or guarantor is so fundamental.
If a guarantor can't qualify for RGI then they AREN'T much use.
This is why letting agents are making sure non local students without local ie england base guarantors are paying full 12 months rent in advance if they want to take up the tenancy.
Shelter will probably help him out evade the landlord
You read the local story and at the bottom of the article there's a link to fb page of estate agency about the room let...
Its time to move this situation to a "Crime" & not a small claims court stuff.
If a bad ex client gets caught they will have a criminal record & not a meaningless dot on the cedit screening, that will encurage for most of them to behave like a proper trustworthy individual.
1 - We always secure CCJs for non-payment to ensure other landlords and lenders understand the profile of who the tenant is.
2 - We also contact employers on LinkedIn to explain the tenants' behaviour and advise their HR team that they have a debt problem and may need counselling or additional support. This equals their employer knows they are untrustworthy which makes it very unlikely the tenant will be promoted into a senior role to represent their firm.
It should not be too hard to find out who his new employer is, I am sure that his attitude would be of great interest to them and to his future career.
if we do inform their employer, wouldnt we be sued? If i remember correctly, there was a law against harrassment at work.
I know of one middle eastern country where if you have a debt which is held up in court they will not let you leave the country until the debt is satisfied. Perhaps the UK should adopt this.
Civil recovery of debt is a national scandal. GDPR allows miscreant debtors to hide away.
It should be a standard response that where any CCJ has been successfully registered that the Courts facilitate tracking down the debtor.
County Courts should have access to the Connect computer database and the creditor should be kept advised of where the debtor is.
This would deter debtors from getting into defaulted debt.
The sad reality is that civil debts are very easy to evade and avoid as the creditor is not allowed access to information which is readily available to the authorities.
LL in particular need to understand that they will receive no assistance whatsoever to recover rent etc from miscreant tenants.
As such LL need to introduce robust protective measures for themselves.
Inevitably this must mean letting to only those tenants against whom a civil debt claim would be successful or where insurance is possible on those tenants .
Any LL that CHOOSES to take on tenants that don't meet these requirements must accept that they will be taking massive business risks..
Of course it is their prerogative to do so.
But if it all goes wrong then they should accept the situation as they should have known this was a possibility at the outset of the tenancy.
Being a LL is actually a very risky business as the law very effectively conspires against LL receiving rent for their property assets.
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