How much rent discount because of coronavirus?

james.wardle

Hello Renters. 
many of my tenants are self-employed or freelance and are going to struggle with cash flow with the current  Coronavirus loss off confidence and potential lockdown.
typically as we are in the south universal credit would only pay up to 2/3 of the rent for a house, and perhaps a bit more with the discretionary housing payment.
What do you think the best thing to do to help them out would be?

1, Reduce the rent to whatever UC will cover for 6 months?
or
2, A months rent holiday for some breathing space?
or
3, 50% reduction for 3 months.
or something else
If you are a renter please let me know what you would find most helpful.
thanks
James

Retireby40

Personally I would say nothing until they brought it to your attention. Have in mind that maybe for a few months you will get less but dont offer it.

Some self employed workers have more money than you think hidden in every part of the house. Dont assume they have no savings.

If someone does approach you regarding the difficulties deal with each case individually. If a tenant has been in your property 10 years you may allow more leeway than a tenant who has been in for 6 months.

Its refreshing that you are thinking in this way but you can be too nice sometimes as I have experienced. Let things play out and deal with them when the tenant contacts you.

SiTheITGuy

I agree with Retireby40 that you should let them approach you if they need to but it is nice to see that you care about them. Can't see my mortgage company offering me the same kindness...!

hazyjo

Wait and see. The government may be introducing something for the self employed to still be paid. No idea how much, or if it'll be implemented. But definitely wait. As above, they may have savings (or insurance which may kick in).

theartfullodger

Same discount Rishi will be giving you on your tax bill.

diggingdude

Much better than bbc affordable living page where people say landlords are scum. Apparently it's acceptable just to say not paying. Make sure you are not taken advantage of

anselld

A noble thought, but what would you do if your tenant lost their job in other circumstances or were sick for other reasons.   The self employed need to manage their income through peaks and troughs for all sorts of reasons.

 The banks may offer a "holiday" on mortgage payments but you can be sure this will be a delay of payment, not discount or deletion.   Interest will still accrue daily and will still ultimately need to be caught up.

So at most I would say some flexibility in the timing of payments.   And remember, no good deed goes unpunished!

Crashy_Time

james.wardle said:

Hello Renters. 
many of my tenants are self-employed or freelance and are going to struggle with cash flow with the current  Coronavirus loss off confidence and potential lockdown.
typically as we are in the south universal credit would only pay up to 2/3 of the rent for a house, and perhaps a bit more with the discretionary housing payment.
What do you think the best thing to do to help them out would be?

1, Reduce the rent to whatever UC will cover for 6 months?
or
2, A months rent holiday for some breathing space?
or
3, 50% reduction for 3 months.
or something else
If you are a renter please let me know what you would find most helpful.
thanks
James

Your question seems to be more about a diminishing general economy rather than helping individual tenants who may get ill with this virus? The reality is that in a diminishing general economic situation you will have to lower the rents on all your properties or risk having voids.

annetheman

As a current renter: I would say, if there is no government scheme to mitigate, offer all three to individuals who come to you to say they will have problems and let them choose.

When I was a self-employed ltd-company contractor, I would probably have preferred a 50% reduction for as long as it took me to find my next contract, which isn't too difficult in my industry luckily, especially now (pharmaceuticals)! But then again, rent took up a low (~10%) amount of my salary; if it took up, for example 30-45%, I'd prefer a rental holiday.

It will depend on their situation; trying to find a solution that works for them like this is good for you as a landlord and for the tenant; good business sense and compassionate - kudos!

PasturesNew

I would let them know that, if they wished to vacate early, I'd want about a week's notice and let them only have to pay the rent up to the date they leave.  As a tenant you can feel "trapped" by that AST, unable to get out of it, fearing if you move into a shared house/smaller place quickly then you'd still have to pay for the first place. 

As a tenant I would wish to pay my way, 100%, but I'd prefer the flexibility to be on the "how do I get out of this" bit of the deal. 

While "trapped" paying rent for the next X months ... it can lead to complete inactivity as your head fries with the idea that you can't afford to live here, but you can't afford to leave.... 

lees80

PasturesNew said:

I would let them know that, if they wished to vacate early, I'd want about a week's notice and let them only have to pay the rent up to the date they leave.  As a tenant you can feel "trapped" by that AST, unable to get out of it, fearing if you move into a shared house/smaller place quickly then you'd still have to pay for the first place. 

As a tenant I would wish to pay my way, 100%, but I'd prefer the flexibility to be on the "how do I get out of this" bit of the deal. 

While "trapped" paying rent for the next X months ... it can lead to complete inactivity as your head fries with the idea that you can't afford to live here, but you can't afford to leave.... 

If you couldn't afford to rent, where would you be going to live? (genuine question, not a dig, I'm curious as to what the alternative would be)