What your private landlord must do if you have rent arrears

Your landlord must follow a process called ‘pre-action protocols’.

To do this, they must contact you as soon as possible. They must give you:

the information your tenancy agreement has on rent, so you know what rent you must pay
a clear breakdown of your rent arrears and the dates payments were due
the process for ending a tenancy, including the steps they must take to try and prevent an eviction
information on sources of advice, so you know where to get help

Your landlord must make reasonable efforts to agree a payment plan with you. This should include both the rent arrears and future rent payments.

Agreeing a repayment plan

Talk to your landlord, and explain what you can afford. Try to agree a payment plan to pay back the arrears.

You could ask your landlord to:

agree to defer repayment of the arrears
agree to write off some or all the rent arrears
allow you to pay rent in smaller, more regular payments if this suits you better
allow you to make partial payments with agreed dates for you to make up the shortfalls
agree that you can pay you rent by cash or cheque rather than direct transfer if this will help

Always get a receipt in writing from your landlord if you pay by cash or cheque. This means you have evidence that you’ve paid.

Make sure you understand the payment plan and can afford it before agreeing to it.

If you agree a payment plan, get a written copy from your landlord.

Your landlord can apply to have the rent and rent arrears paid to them directly from your monthly Universal Credit Payment.

If they do this and you need to reduce the payments they take, contact an adviser at Universal Credit.

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