Haven’t paid rent in months!

I can't see how you didn't reliese you hadn't been paying your rent of anything 500/1000 depending where you live in the country

Yet don't have the money now

What on Earth have you spent it on / that's £3/6k

I can understand not checking the bank account but if the money isn't there you must have done some serious spending in the last 6mths

Please tell your guaranter - they will be liable for the back payment if the landlord really wants to get their money

And likely to cause then financial issues

Equally the landlord has been lapse not contacting you after the first missed payment

Good luck

I agree with the previous advice about suggesting a payment plan, contacting Stepchange and the CAB but, if you think something may have gone wrong with a standing order, you should also contact your bank. Do
you have some kind of evidence that you set up the standing order, such as an email? Or do
you have some sort of record of when you set it up such as an itemised phone bill showing the call? Even if you don’t have these, contact your bank and, if they say you have a standing order and, for some reason, they have not been paying it the surely they should cover your arrears.

you need to wake up to the issue op
get some support from Step Change

That's a lot of money over a lot of time. I used to hide away from debts and not check my account balance because I was sinking. No good come from that and every penny had to be paid back - and more on fees! The best thing you can do is talk to step change, let them know what the situation is and take their advice. They will help you manage the process of getting the debt down and how to communicate that with your landlord. To be fair he doesn't sound like an unreasonable person so all is most definitely not lost. I know your mental health isn't great but you really must face up to this situation and make sure you get a better handle on finances going forward.

How exactly did you realize that you haven’t paid rent for 6 months? I’m just wondering if there is any chance there is a mix up, and you have actually been paying (since you didn’t notice or accumulate extra money).

if you definitely haven’t paid, where did the rent money go? Have you been paying the wrong person? Possibly you could get some of it back if so.

Did you read any of OPs opening? People in a similar situation often struggle to mamage finances.

Work out a payment plan, rent is bound to be £800+. Per Month, part of that is bound to be paid by benefits- didn't you realise you were spending more?

I'm surprised you as behind on your other bills if you haven't been paying rent. What did you spend the money on if not rent or bills?
As others have said get on the phone later today. Call your landlord and local council, I also don't know if somewhere like Shelter would be able to help if the landlord evicts you.
First off call your landlord and just see what he says.

@CreamLampshade Your conditions aren't severe enough to be unable to work.

Be grateful.

Sending you Strength and solidarity for the call in the morning.

I understand burying your head in the sand but you don't have a choice now. Hoping for a ghost positive workable outcome.

Very saddened to read the many judgy/questioning/doubting comments on this thread. There's some really fucking horrible people in this place. I hope the op has the strength to ignore the vitriol. Nasty nasty people.

Just a reminder - if you don't have anything nice to say, it's ok to walk in past. You don't have to stick the boot in.

The supportive comments are of course lovely so hope to see more of those.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

You must make paying back your rent a priority.

You will have to go without until you have done so.

Contact these people -

https://www.stepchange.org/?gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD1toAhQDY80BMCJy4mIx5CCVCh8H&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsoe5BhDiARIsAOXVoUt2HiJDJKgaIRXB8FraXGL0spDVH1orarlxnYfjUy0lh0WI6EHltOsaAvdeEALwwcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I've previously been a landlord to a few properties and I would be furious at your giving mental health reasons as an excuse. There is never an excuse to get out of paying what you owe and I don't want to know about people's personal problems when it comes to financial agreements.

Work on going forward and present the landlord with what you will be paying to help redress the debt.

Good luck.

Speak to your landlord and try and set up some kind of plan and ask your LL if he agrees that UC can send the money straight to him. If he agrees, call UC and get them to do just that. They can pay it straight to the LL.

Be honest with your landlord. State that you love living there and wish to remain. Could you pay him back an extra £50 a month until the debt has been repaid?
This is what my tenant did, she took on extra hours so her benefits were reduced reducing her over all income (madness) and panicked.
Your landlord doesn't sound like a soul-eating monster so may well agree to a gradual repayment scheme.
Changing tenants would cost him a lot!

If housing benefit has been paid, and not passed on to the landlord, I imagine that will have implications too?

Work out a payment plan and let your LL know that you have requested for your rent to be directly paid to him.

@Uppoopcreek
What's done is done

Be honest and apologetic - you have dropped a clanger. But also get out your calculator and come to the table with a viable solution. Can you afford for example to pay 1.5 x rent that would be a 12 month payback? Or a lump sum and some other multiple of rent? If you are in benefits then I guess you are going to need some help from someone to meet the LL's expected time frame.

Sounds like the LL is pretty relaxed so hopefully you can work something out

Good luck OP. Hoping you find a workable solution

We used to have a flat we rented out, and we had a good tenant who came to us and told us she'd been injured and was waiting for an operation and in the meantime couldn't work. Because she came to us to talk about it, we had no hesitation in giving her time, understanding if she was short sometimes, etc. She was a great tenant and we wanted to keep her!

Talk to your landlord. There are so many unreliable tenants, hanging onto good ones who let you know when there are problems is a top priority ime.

True. I apologise for my previous comment. It was a sweeping statement and not fair.

Drowning in bill’s,young kids,rent no support you do bury your head and just can’t face it anymore coming from a bi polar carer who looks after many people with mental health problems and I also do their banking and shopping 👍

I've done something vaguely similar but was a loan for a car from ny then MIL. I swear I set up the standing payment but apparently I didn't. She rang , quite cranky, fair enough, after 3 months. I was just OMG so sorry my mistake and paid her back over a year or so. Could you come to some kind of arrangement with your LL like that?

Sorry but I do think living on benefits for a living creates a sense that you are not responsible for your own life and can just keep take take taking. It’s really unhealthy. And unfair on tax payers, landlords, guarantors!

I’ve got adhd and severe ocd and depression but I work.

I was bought up by someone on Benefits and they honestly felt they were owed the world. Still do! Constant complaints about the council erc when they have a three bed house worth £800k I could merely dream of. No money management skills, because it just keeps getting paid. For free.

That poor guarantor.

They are going to be in for a nasty shock.

Get a budgeting app and use it. I recommend Emma. Not even noticing you’ve spent an extra £500 a month is ridiculous. You’ll need to sort a payment plan with your landlord so that your poor (silly) guarantor is not affected. This is a really crucial thing to sort out as a responsible adult to three kids.