Is your tenant not paying rent in your UK property? Are you considering how to get rid of a tenant who is not paying rent and wondering how you can handle the situation professionally?

Non-payment can happen to any landlord, and sometimes tenants encounter unexpected financial difficulties. As a landlord, tenants not paying rent is something to be prepared for.

What can landlords do to protect themselves against unpaid rent?

• Be organised - If you keep track of every payment, you’ll easily spot if there’s a delayed or missed payment. It’ll also be easier to present the evidence if you go to court.

• Invest in landlord insurance - Landlord insurance covers a range of potential issues that landlords may encounter, one of them being the loss of rent. It can help cover some of the costs of evicting a tenant.

• Use a rent guarantee scheme - You are guaranteed to receive a rental income despite rent arrears, void periods, and empty occupation of the property. Your income is protected against anything that the tenant may or may not do.

• Maintain good communication—It’s your responsibility as a landlord to respond to your tenants quickly and professionally. Maintaining a good rapport with your tenants also makes handling issues easier. It will encourage them to inform you of any circumstances that could lead to them missing their rent payment.

• Have an understanding of your legal rights as a landlord - You might have to engage in legal proceedings to claim unpaid rent or evict a tenant and it’s important that it is done within the law.

How to deal with a tenant not paying rent

Communicate with your tenant

The first thing you should do is get in touch with the tenant. Inform them of their delayed or missed payment and request payment. Keep a copy of the correspondence and ensure they understand the seriousness of paying their rent.

Talk to the guarantor

The tenant’s guarantor is an individual who signed the tenancy agreement, agreeing to pay the monthly rent if the tenant fails to. After 14 days of missed payment, request payment from the guarantor.

Contact your insurance provider

Whether you have landlord insurance or rent guarantee insurance, you may be able to claim lost or unpaid rent. Discuss your circumstances with your insurer and see what the result is - these types of landlord insurance will usually give you peace of mind and will return your money. They are very reliable.

What do I do when the rent is unpaid after 14 days?

If the tenant does not answer your call, email, or message - or continues to fail to pay -  send a formal letter to the tenant and guarantor requesting payment and outlining what will happen if they do not pay.

Don’t forget to record this correspondence.

If they have still not paid after 21 days, send another letter to the tenant and guarantor.

How long can a tenant not pay rent?

It depends on when the landlord specifically wants to take action. Most commonly, though, there are grounds for eviction if the tenant fails to pay two months of rent and has made no effort to resolve or liaise a solution with the landlord.

The eviction process

If rent arrears stack up to two months, the landlord has the right to evict the tenant.

Section 8 Notice

You can present your tenants with this notice if they have more than two months of rent arrears. A Section 8 Notice can only be served if a tenant breaks the terms of the tenancy agreement, which includes rent arrears. The Section 8 Notice specifically and legally requests that the tenant vacate the property.

The landlord must give the tenant a notice period, from two weeks to two months, depending on which terms of the tenancy agreement they have broken. If the tenant does not leave the property in this notice period, the landlord can appeal to the court to take legal action with a possession order of the property.

You may have heard of the Section 21 Notice, but this only applies to tenants after a fixed-term tenancy has ended or if they would like to replace a tenant in a property with no fixed end date. This notice is used if the landlord wishes to evict the tenant, and they do not usually require a reason for issuing it.

How LetsInsure Can Help

Experiencing one of your tenants failing to pay rent can be stressful. At LetsInsure, we specialise in providing landlords with tailored and professional protection and compliance services across the UK.

Being covered by Home Emergency Assistance, Rent Guarantee Insurance, and Deposit Replacement Insurance is recommended if you’re a landlord of a rental property because it protects you, your property, and your money.

You can sign up to our services for free or contact us with any questions you may have and we will be more than happy to help!  

‍