Rent Arrears Private Renting

It is extremely important to speak to your landlord (or lettings agent if you rent through an agency) straight away. You may be waiting for a benefit payment to come through, but you should still inform them of your situation. You should pay what you can afford and ask them for more time to pay the rent back.

You must not ignore the situation. Your landlord can start the eviction process straight away if you miss a payment and if any of the following applies:

• You have a history of being late with your rent

• You are already in arrears

• For assured shorthold tenancies, where the fixed term period of your tenancy has ended

The court has the power in these cases to grant your landlord a ‘possession order’ very quickly and you’ll be told to leave within 14 days. If your landlord is a local authority or housing association, please refer to our ‘rent arrears - social housing’ factsheet as different rules apply. 

You should ask your landlord if they will agree to you paying off your arrears in smaller amounts in addition to your ongoing rent. 

You can obtain advice from a local advice or debt agency that will be able to assist you in drawing up a budget, showing what you can afford. It is important to take into account your income, your essential expenditure and what you have left is the amount you have available for your debts.

Rent is a priority debt, as you risk eviction if you do not keep up your payments. If your landlord will not agree you should pay anyway and keep records of what you have paid. If they will not take the payments, you should put it to one side as evidence in court to show that you have offered repayments.

You may be entitled to housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit. Your housing officer should explore your eligibility with you and may be able to help you make a claim. 

You can also check your overall benefit entitlement using Money Advice Hub's Benefit Calculator.

If you have a local housing and or the benefit cap,  your income may be reduced significantly. You may be able to make an application for discretionary housing payment.

You cannot be evicted from your home without a court order. Your landlord will have to send you written notice of a court hearing and in private tenancies this is known as a ‘notice to quit’.

If you have an assured shorthold tenancy your landlord can issue you with a section 8 notice or a section 21 notice. 

Section 8 notice 

You may receive a section 8 notice if you have; rent arrears, damaged your landlords property or if you have caused a nuisance to your neighbours. The notice will not be valid if it doesn't include:

• your name

• the address of the property

• the 'grounds for possession' (reasons why your landlord wants you to leave your home)

• the date your notice ends 

No Fault Eviction - Section 21 notice 

The Section 21 notice will not be valid if you do not have an assured shorthold tenancy. 

You should seek advice from a local advice agency if you need help checking the validity of the notice. 

Your landlord may be selling their home or moving and that is why they require you to leave. 

Before the date of the hearing, it will be beneficial to gather all of your evidence together to support your case. The following list may be helpful:

• Proof of your financial circumstances, for example, wage slips and your bank statements

• Written confirmation you are awaiting a benefit, for example housing benefit

• Receipts of payments you have made towards the arrears

• A copy of your Financial Statement or Budget sheet

The hearing at court will be held in private and the judge will listen to both sides and examine evidence that has been presented to the court. 

At the end of the hearing the judge will have made a decision and make an order informing you and the landlord. A copy of the order will also be posted to you within a few days.

There are various decisions a judge can make such as:

• Dismiss the case. For example if you are not responsible for the arrears

• Make a postponed possession order

• Make a suspended possession order

• Make an outright possession order

• Make a money judgment

This is an order allowing you to remain in your home , providing you comply with certain conditions. This will usually mean paying your rent and something towards your arrears. a

If you don’t keep up with your payments as per the conditions set out in the order your landlord can ask the court to evict you. This means making an application to the court for a possession date and once this has been obtained they can apply for a warrant of possession.

If your circumstances change, you may be able to make an application to the court to vary the conditions set out in the order. 

This is similar to a postponed possession order, as you will be able to remain in your home providing you comply with the conditions set out in the order. 

The difference is that if the order is breached, your landlord will apply for the warrant of possession to evict you and you will not be informed in advance.

If you do not stick to the terms in a suspended possession order, you risk your landlord applying to evict you for the breached rent arrears plus the original rent arrears. To prevent this from happening you should firstly see what you can negotiate with your landlord directly. It may be possible to correct the suspended possession order breach informally over an agreed period of time. However, most social landlords will expect this period to be fairly short which may make this option unaffordable.

If you cannot come to an agreement with your landlord, it may be necessary to apply to the original court to vary the terms of the suspended possession order and include the breach rent arrears to the original rent arrears from the first order. However, to do this, you must be able to prove to the court that you can afford to pay the ongoing contractual rent plus a reasonable amount to repay the rent arrears.

N244 Application

To make an application to the county court to vary a suspended possession order you will need to complete an N244. You can read helpful notes on how to complete the form here. You will need a copy of the original county court order to help you complete the form. 

Court Application Fee

You may need to pay a court application if you do not qualify for help with court fees due to low income.

Repayment and consolidating the breached rent arrears

You will need to make a repayment offer to the rent arrears and ask the court to add in the breached rent arrears to the new terms. You must be able to prove to the court and your landlord that you can afford the offer you make and that you can continue to pay your contractual rent. It is very important to take an income and expenditure with you to the court hearing to show your affordability and any proof of income you have, such as bank statements. 

Adjournment

The court may decide to adjourn the hearing if you cannot commit to the whole rent but you should not rely on this. You will then need to make sure you have sorted your finances out to prove you can afford the contractual rent plus an amount to the rent arrears when you attend the next court hearing.

Rent Arrears repayments before the hearing

It is recommended that you start paying a rent arrears repayment before you attend the court hearing as this will prove to the court the offer is realistic and affordable. 

Very high rent arrears

You may need to get advice from a law centre if your rent arrears are very high as any money you pay to the rent arrears may be better saved to pay a deposit on another rental property if there is little prospect of you remaining in the current property.

Homeless Prevention

When you have very high rent arrears, it is recommended that you visit your local homeless prevention team as they can provide advice and sometimes assistance with rehousing. Your homeless prevention team may not always have a duty to rehouse you. Some local areas may also have long waiting lists to be rehoused even if your local authority does have a duty to rehouse you.

In some circumstances your local authority may offer an amount to the rent arrears to keep you in your property but you should not rely on this as a certain safety net.

It may be possible to place a 60 day pause on an eviction process if you qualify for the Government breathing space schemes. It is important that you apply at least one day before an eviction is due to take place as the scheme does not usually start until the morning after an application has been submitted.

If you have a section 21 Notice to quit your property or you are being evicted for ant-social behaviour, the Government breathing space scheme will not stop the process.

You will need to contact a debt adviser to apply for a Government breathing space scheme or an approved mental health professional if you are in crisis breathing space scheme.

If you have been unable to convince the court that you can afford to repay your arrears and manage your ongoing rent they may order that you have to leave your home. 

The order will set out a date by which you must leave. If you do not leave by that date your landlord will have to obtain a warrant of possession.

Your landlord may ask the court for a money judgment as well as a possession order. This is a county court judgment (CCJ) which you will have to pay back even if you leave the property. It also means that the landlord can obtain another order, for example to deduct money from your wages.