A report on the BBC web-site today states that more tenants are in arrears of rent now than since the late 1980’s. Which is not surprising given the almost daily announcements of redundancies.
Here is a bit of advice for landlords:
- Keep on top of things and contact tenants as soon as they fall into arrears
- Be sympathetic to tenants who respond to you, and consider reducing the rent if they are geninely in financial difficulties through no fault of their own
- If tenants are on housing benefit/Local Housing Allowance, tell the benefit office – they should make payment direct to you if the arrears reach 8 weeks
- However if tenants have not responded when the arrears reach 2 months worth, serve a section 8 notice and consider issuing proceedings for possession. Remember possession proceedings can take months.
For more information see my article ‘Dealing with rent arrears – some different approaches’ which you can download and read free of charge in this section of my LandlordLaw web-site.
Further guidance and help is available in my Rent Arrears Action Plan.