Q. My tenant has just been made redundant and now not paying his rent, legally what am I allowed to do?
A. Unfortunately, due to the current climate many tenants have lost their jobs and now find they are unable to pay their rent. Landlords have a limited number of options available if the tenant does fall into arrears – evict, negotiate a reduced rental or help direct the tenant towards any potential benefits. Accepting a reduced rental payment obviously depends on a landlord’s individual financial circumstances, and how difficult it would be to find a new tenant. If the tenant is unaware of financial support available to them, the landlord should highlight Local Housing Allowance (LHA) which is paid to tenants on low incomes, or who have lost their jobs, to help pay their rent. This would rely on the tenant passing the payment on to the landlord, although the Landlord can ask for it to be paid direct if the rent is eight weeks or more in arrears. The final option is to evict – which can be a time consuming and costly affair. Landlords can seek possession of a property during an assured shorthold tenancy on a number of grounds including rent arrears; this must be done with a Section 8 notice. The court will require evidence of rent arrears and the judge can award possession straight away or allow the tenant to remain in the property till a specified date. It typically takes the landlord 3 months to gain possession under this route as they have to give 14 days notice of possession, wait for the hearing date and then wait a further 14 days if possession is granted.