Haven’t paid rent in months!

good luck OP. Make that call and take it from there. You got this

Alright ignore this I just read the ops follow up comments

There probably isn't one because surely they would of called the op up and asked what the hell is going on after paying the first month's rent.
Not all landlords ask for a guarantor especially if she's been living there a long time pre Covid they were a lot less fussy.

Agreeing to only £50 a month extra when there are full months of outstanding payments is incredibly generous, I’m not sure most landlords would agree to that!

Get all your paperwork together and book an appointment with citizens advice, you need to face this head on and it will really help with your anxiety.

Speak to landlord, if there is an arrears see if you can pay a little extra monthly.

Do you work with you MH? It says you are on benefits - do you not receive housing benefit?

Cost of living - of course. Thank you.

Can you maybe contact your benefits for an advance or do you have a company similar to PCCU that could help ?

I am a landlord, and I’m not judging you.

Your explanation of what has happened, and the COL initially sounds implausible, even though it may well be the case, if you were overwhelmed.

Your landlord seems quite patient to leave things this long, but are you sure this is the first contact he has made and you haven’t left other communication unopened?

Before you speak to him you need to be very clear how you are going to be able to pay at least your current rent. My concern would be that you have been struggling financially when you have had a significant amount of additional income because of not paying your rent, so how can you guarantee this will not happen in the future?

You or the landlord can ask the DWP to pay your rent straight to the landlord. They can also deduct a very small percentage of the remaining benefits to pass on to the landlord to reduce the arrears, but it will take years to repay 6 full months rent.

This man became your landlord when his son died, an absolutely unthinkable tragedy for most of us. He is likely fighting his own demons and the last thing you need is for him to decide that he wants to move on by disposing of the property that is your home.

I hope you can sort things out.

Usually people mean cost of living

Cost of living.

I get a small amount of housing benefit and it's always paid directly to the landlord .

My thoughts exactly. Apols but what is COL ?

@Littletreefrog fair point thank you. I didn't think of that 🫤

If he's got multiple properties and seemingly inherited them quite recently he is probably not on top of juggling managing them on top of whatever his actual job is.

@ByQuaintAzureWasp totally agree.....but surely she would have realised about the extra money??? Why didn't the landlord get in touch sooner?? 🤔🤔

After 6 months I think OP is in significant arrears.

@ByQuaintAzureWasp universal credit won't pay rent directly to the landlord unless you are in significant arrears. I asked if I could pay my rent directly to the landlord and that was their answer 😳😳

How do your housing benefits get paid OP? Direct to landlord or to yourself? Do you put money towards your rent and it's that you've spent or have you spent the full amount including housing benefits?

Have you recently switched to universal credit?

How much of the money do you have left?

I don't believe you have the extra rent money and just spent it without realising or ever checking your bank account. Even if you just spend willy nilly you must have been spending roughly what was in your account before the rent stopped going out, why would your spending habits suddenly change by 100s a month without realising?

And I'm not sure I believe a problem with the standing order. I don't think standing orders just don't go through for 6 months if the moneys in your accouny

I do think the landlord should have mentioned it before 6 months. They've allowed quite a lot of debt to build up

The bright spark in Government decided that money for rent went to benefit claimant instead of landlord wants shooting.

Didnt the op notice tons of extra stuff she had bought accidentally instead of paying her rent?!?

But if you’re on benefits (presumably a limited income) and you are hundreds of pounds better offeach month than you should be, would that not ring alarm bells?

I am a landlord. TBH I would have noticed instantly as I need the money at the end of the month. But, in this situation, I would:
invite you around for a face-to-face meeting to find out the facts, and explain that I needed the money. I'd then try to establish if you were taking the piss, or it was a genuine mistake.
If I thought you were a piss-taker, I'd start to evict you.
If I believed you, I'd ask to go through your finances with you to try and make any helpful suggestions, including looking at Martin Lewis's website. I'd then ask you to put together an affordable, realistic payment plan. I would do this over tea and biscuits in a polite but business-like way.
Good luck.

I'm feeling very sorry for your guarantor.

Going forward, PLEASE do a monthly spending plan for yourself. If you are aware of what comes in and what goes out, you will immediately know if something hasn’t been paid. Simply going by what your bank balance says is a dangerous game.

This is a cautionary tale for all of us, both in regards to being a guarantor for a friend or family member, and in regards to having a monthly spending plan.

Good luck, op.