Advice needed - rent arrears

jennyj26uk

Hi everyone. This is my first time posting here. Basically I'm having a terrible time at the moment with money due to some bad decisions I made last year. I took out a payday loan last year and it's been rough ever since. I've just started a DMP plan so hopefully this will get things fixed. It's gonna take a year to pay off though but I'll be so glad once it's done. Okay so basically I split from my partner and I moved back with parents but I was helping my ex partner to pay the rent. Recently though we didn't pay due to money problems and my hours got reduced at work as well as my ex patgner's hours. So basically we were in arrears by 3 months. Today apparently the landlord came round and said if we don't pay the arrears in full by the start of February she will evict us. My ex partner explained the situation and our money problems and she was having none of it. I told him to tell her that we will pay February rent in full and the arrears whenever we can. I know bbeing in arrears is bad but I think she is being completely unreasonable. Landlords have a responsibility to understand and offer support. We had so many problems with the house since we rented it we reported everything that was wrong and she never fixed anything. She said she would keep our deposit too due to all the problems with it despite us reporting them months ago.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am so stressed out about the situation and I'm completely at a loss. I'm okay as I'm living with my parents but I worry about my ex as his parents are both deceased so not sure where he can go. He has grandparents and an aunt and uncle so worst case scenario I guess he can go there as I'm sure they wouldn't see him go homeless. Any ideas??

anselld

jennyj26uk wrote: »

Landlords have a responsibility to understand and offer support.

Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that this is not true. If you cannot afford the rent (and assuming the LL is on top of legal requirements) you will ultimately be evicted.

Getting the arrears to less than two months is a good start as it brings you back into the zone where the judge can exercise discretion.

Are you still within your fixed term? If you can give notice would it not be better for both of you to stop renting and try to live within your means whilst paying off debts?

Guest101

The landlord may struggle to keep deposit for rent arrears, but even if they could. They cannot keep 100 if u owe 50, their stress is their problem

dimbo61

Deposit is often either 5 weeks rent or rent plus £100.
Has the landlord served a correct S21 and S8 for late/non payment of rent?
Is your EX partner in the property on his own or with kids ?
The landlord is running a business not a charity ( In which case he/she would pay themselves about £100K a year)

tangojulie

Landlords have a responsibility to offer support - and tenants have a responsibility to pay the rent.

Perhaps the landlord has problems of their own, caused by not receiving the rent they were entitled to expect.

As landlord, I have had tenants tell me they will pay 'whenever they can', and then nothing happens. I would be much more impressed by a sensible plan showing what payments I could expect when. Even if these were small and the arrears took a while to pay off, I would see it as evidence that someone was taking a responsible attitude and doing the best they could. 'As soon as possible', however, is just too vague to be convincing.

mildredalien

I'm not sure how the landlord can keep the deposit for having to deal with problems with the house - unless they were due to damage you caused, she is responsible for keeping the house up to scratch. Or is she trying to withhold the deposit to pay the arrears?

That being said as much as I sympathise with your money problems (been in a similar situation myself) it is not unreasonable for a landlord not to be happy with a tenant who is 3 months in rent arrears and is continuing to have money issues.

Are the DMP aware of the rent arrears problem and is that taken into account with your budget? If you can show that you can afford to pay the rent on an ongoing basis and have a plan to pay off the arrears, they may accept it. If the money problems are so severe that your ex will not be able to keep up rent payments on an ongoing basis then he will need to make other arrangements e.g. look for cheaper accommodation.

Kynthia

tangojulie wrote: »

Landlords have a responsibility to offer support - and tenants have a responsibility to pay the rent.

No, landlords have lots of responsibilities such as ensuring the accommodation is safe, protecting the deposit, etc. Tenants have responsibilities such as paying all the rent on time, reporting problems, behaving in a tenant like manner, etc.


Why on earth should landlords support their tenants? I'm not advocating they be cruel or unfeeling but it's a professional business arrangement and you don't expect the garage that fixes your car or the supermarket where you buy your shopping to 'support' you. Tenancy law dictates the protections due to a tenant and it fully allows a landlord to evict a tenant that owes two months rent. In fact it not only allows it, it makes it mandatory for a judge to award possession to the landlord in this situation.


There are bills that should be prioritised over others, and they include council tax and rent as people can be imprisoned or lose the roof over their head. Perhaps you could both go talk to the Citizens Advice Bureau or call Shelter for some advice. Also there is a website called turn2us.org.uk which lets you know if you're getting the benefits you're entitled to and perhaps you're ex is entitled to something.

thesaint

jennyj26uk wrote: »

I told him to tell her that we will pay February rent in full and the arrears whenever we can.

What you are actually proposing is to actually pay the rent due in November last year, and then the rent due in December "whenever you can".

What you should do is to ask the landlady if you can surrender the tenancy forthwith, and make a payment plan to pay what you owe.

poppysarah

jennyj26uk wrote: »

I moved back with parents


So basically we were in arrears by 3 months.

They have been supportive by not s8'ing you at 2 months arrears.

Have you moved back?

BigAunty

jennyj26uk wrote: »

Landlords have a responsibility to understand and offer support.

Any ideas??

Read the Shelter website as they are experts at tenants rights- you will not find that phrase anywhere. What you will find is that tenants are strongly cautioned to pay their rent or expect to be served an eviction notice if they default. It is very common for landlords to evict tenants that get into arrears so not really sure why this is a shock to you.

Shelter have a section offering advice for arrears and outlining the eviction process, how to deal with deposit disputes and how could have dealt with repair issues.

It may be best for you both to surrender the tenancy, assuming its a joint one (if the landlord accepts an early release and setting up a repayment schedule for the arrears with the consent of your landlord, one that you can actually stick to rather than 'as and when' you've got spare cash, particularly as you are now responsible for paying rent on a property that you moved out of).

Read the Direct Gov website for its Debt Management advice - there you will see that they urge people in debt to prioritise certain debts because of the high impact they have if they go unpaid. For example, not paying council tax can lead to prison while not paying rent can lead to homelessness.

Has your ex looked into whether he was eligible for housing benefit when his income dipped?