Help! I Can’t Pay My Rent? What Shall I Do?

Some encouraging yet above all, practical advice from Talitha Burgess, Managing Director at Clarity Property Management.

That horrible realisation that you don’t have enough funds in your bank account, or anywhere for that matter, to pay your rent. Many people have been there. It’s a dreadful feeling – literally. You’re experiencing fear and cold, hard dread.

But, may I offer you two clear pieces of advice?

1. Don’t panic, and
2. Don’t ignore the problem

Closing your eyes to the situation, and throwing your nerves into disarray will simply make things much worse.

There is support out there, and importantly, there is protection. In particular, though, in this blog, please read and absorb inwardly all the words and phrases in bold

But – you have to play your part. After all, when you signed your Tenancy Agreement, one of the main contractual commitments you made was to settle your rent in a timely manner. So, whilst this situation may not be as alarming as it seems, you must communicate, and you must co-operate.

Your Landlord’s Reaction

Here at Clarity, we have in depth experience of working with landlords, and we know that this much is true:

In our opinion, most landlords are flexible. Whilst they’re unlikely to let you off the rent – remember they have mortgages and other essential outgoings to meet – if you communicate your issues to them as soon as possible, and take a realistic standpoint, your landlord will more than likely find a solution that could dial down your anxiety about eviction or debt collectors.

Importantly, you should always deal with a highly competent lettings agency; one that knows all the legal crossing of T’s and dotting of I’s.

Here are our top tips:

Is your change of circumstance temporary or permanent?

If It’s Temporary

If you have a regular and reliable income, ask for a one-off payment extension. You must contact your landlord or agent in advance of your rent becoming due, plus confirm a payment date (a definite date, we mean).

If your suggested date is further than 2 weeks from the required one, offer an immediate smaller payment as a goodwill gesture, assuming that you have the means to afford this. Also, confirm or otherwise if any charges apply for the payment you plan to make, further to the 2-week delay. Refer to your tenancy agreement here: fees are capped at the Bank of England base rate, and any penalty charges are banned.

You must meet your “new” rental date, confirming it with your landlord and the agency.

Should your amended date be less than 2 weeks from the due date, whilst you must advise both parties, there’s no need to make an immediate payment – but again, communication will be vitally important here, not least for the future relationship with your landlord.

If It’s Permanent

Living in Sussex is expensive, and your rent will be a significant part of your outgoings. So, consider carefully whether you can continue with the tenancy. You may have lost your job with nothing else on the horizon, for example, and getting support via benefits etc can take several weeks. Remember: if you damage your credit score, it could take years for it to recover.

You may be able to move in with friends or family to give you a chance to re-group. Again, contact your landlord and/or your agent to confirm the terms in your Agreement. This could be:

A statutory period term, or rolling term tenancy, you only need to give one month’s notice and may be able to stagger the final payment. You may also be entitled to surrender the deposit towards the final cost.

NB, re this last point: this is at the landlord’s discretion only.

Or,

A fixed term tenancy is a little more complicated, but not too much:

Ask your agent/landlord for a discretionary break due to hardship, detailing the circumstances. You will need to provide relevant proof, eg a redundancy letter, a notification of a change in benefits etc. If you’re self-employed, provide evidence of any cancelled contracts.

Do let your landlord know the earliest date you can vacate the property, and be sure to co-operate fully with the marketing of the property to new tenant, keeping it tidy for viewings.

If It’s a No…

If you are refused a discretionary break request – with or without replacement marketing, then you can ask why, and offer to provide extra information on your change of circumstances.  In the meantime, get together as much money as you can for your rent arrears.

You could even take advice from your local authority regarding whether your request is deemed “reasonable”. But, if you do this, you must let your landlord/agent know, not least because they’ll be expected to be reasonable, and furnish evidence of their costs if they can’t offer you a discretionary break request.

A fixed term offers you a degree of security.

Why? Because it’s generally considered as fair to keep you in your contract until another tenant agrees to take the property. Be aware that following the Tenant Fee Act, 2019, it’s reasonable to ask you to meet the costs of re-marketing the property. Yes, this does sound surprising, but remember to ask how much this is likely to be, and you can negotiate taking them off your deposit.

Guarantors

Your guarantor(s) will be notified of any rent arrears of all or any of the tenants that you live with on a jointly and severally liable basis.

This means that he, she or they (your guarantors, that is) will have a legal obligation to pay the rent for the entire property and not just yours if your flatmates are also unable to pay. (Plus, the costs to cover damage repairs, by the way.)

So, whether your parents are your financial safety net, your grandparents or other kind friends, do keep them in the loop in the same way as you should be doing with your landlord and letting agent.

They may, after all be able to help you out on a practical or monetary basis.

In Summary…

Don’t ignore the situation, it’s not going to go away unless you suddenly find the funds to pay your rent. We’re saying this again, but stay as calm as you can, and communicate early and often.

Ultimately, we’re all people at the end of the day, and you’ll find everyone you deal with here at Clarity compassionate, reassuring and pragmatic. Everyone has come through a tough time in the last 18 months, with all the economic knocks and setbacks that can be thrown at us.

It will get better.

Best of luck.

Here are some useful links to information that could help you get back on track:

Universal Credit could support you with rent and other costs
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/how_to_claim_universal_credit

DHP is an additional payment that the council can make to you if you’re struggling with your rent
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/discretionary_housing_payments_dhp

There’s also advice on tenancy deposits:
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits/paying_a_tenancy_deposit

And about rent in advance:
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_in_advance 

Here’s a link to the National Debt Line fact sheet
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/fact-sheet-library/rent-arrears-ew/