Should I Seek Legal Advice

I had a property rented to a tenant who was receiving Social Welfare Benefits for the past 2 years. In January they cut off payment without notice to the tenant or myself. Only when I rang the tenant to ask what happened did he find out that the Health Board had stopped his rent allowance.

It now looks like the tenant will owe me rent for 4 months as the Health Board say it is unlikely they will back date the rent owed. The Health Board has only confirmed recently that they believe the rent will not be paid by them.

I have tried contacting the tenant directly but none of my messages are returned. I had to contact the tenants Social Welfare Officer to get any information. I am now thinking that instead of trying to work a deal with the former tenant to pay the rent owed that I need to just get legal advice.

The only thing with taking the legal side with the tenant is that it's messy, time consuming and costly. Is it possible to scare the tenant with a legal notice before having to pay out money to take action?

Any helpful suggestions much appreciated.

You can threaten the tenant with legal advice. Whether this is worthwhile or not depends on

(a) whether they believe you;
(b) whether they care;
(c) whether or not they have the means to pay you.

If you want to make a threat of legal action look 'official', I'd imagine you would have to present it on solicitor's headed paper.

P.S. I am not a solicitor