Can I claim rent arrears in Canadian Court

[acrossthewater]

A Canadian tenant moved into my UK London flat in 2008. She paid rent for the first few months, but then stopped. I was unable to get her to leave voluntarily until I began legal eviction proceedings in UK small claims court. She then absconded owing me rent arrears running into thousands of pounds. She has since returned to Quebec in Canada.

Which organisation do I pursue her through: the Court of Quebec or the Regie du Logement?

[Habsfan]

Neither the Quebec Court nor the Rental Board (Regie du Logement)will grant you a judgment for a rental issue that has happened in another country, we simply don't have jurisdiction.
However, you can get a decision from a U.K. Small Claims Court and have it homolugated (approved officially) by a Quebec Court. To do this you would first have to get a decision that would be accepted by a Quebec Court, more on this later, take the decision to a barrister?, solicitor? and have him send the decision to a lawyer in Quebec to then file at court for it's homolugation. Once the decision is homolugated the Quebec lawyer would then hire a bailiff to execute the decision and if your ex-tenant has any money would then do the seizure and the Quebec lawyer would send you the money.
To have a decision accepted by a Quebec Court you would have to prove that the ex-tenant knew about the impending case and that she was given a chance to contest so the steps to follow are the following.
1)Confirm her address. You would have to hire a skip-tracer(service de depistage) in Quebec to verify her address and while you're at it if she has a job and where.
2)Send her a demand letter requiring that she pay all amounts owed within x amount of time otherwise you will file at U.K. small claims court unless you have already sent her one and have proof that she received it, otherwise you will have to send her another by a means that guarantees proof that she received it....bailiff, courier with signature, registered or certified mail with signature, I'd recommend bailiff.
3)File your demand in U.K. Small Claims Court and when you get the notice of hearing send her a copy as in #2 above. These two steps are important as Quebec courts will refuse to homolugate a judgment unless it can be proved that she knew that you filed a case and that she was notified of the date and place of hearing.
Now consider the following (all costs are approximate in Canadian funds)
Skip tracer $45
Bailiff for demand letter $30
Bailiff for notice of hearing $30
Quebec lawyer (and this is on the cheap side)
3 or 4 hours at $150.00 an hour $450
Cost of U.K. legal services ????
If she owed you a lot of money it might be worth it but make sure she has the capacity to pay first and isn't judgment proof otherwise you might have a pretty piece of paper that's unenforceable.

Hope this helps


Sorry forgot to add the cost of a bailiff for doing the eviction could run about $100 then there are court costs and your Quebec lawyer will probably have to serve your ex-tenant with notice of the proceedings so add another $400 Canadian to be on the safe side