To think that giving letting agents advance notice of a short rent delay is pointless and that some actually behave worse when you try to communicate properly?

If you haven’t already - would speak to an organisation such as shelter who can advise you of your rights / due process.

Letting agent agreements usually have a late payment clause - would expect a late payment fee not an eviction notice ! They were doing well to issue a section notice so quickly 🤷🏼‍♀️

Absolute rubbish, if you paid your mortgage 3 days late there would be no issues at all -I’ve known people be 2 months behind and only at that point did they even get any communication

What? That's terrible. Eviction for being 3 days late? That sounds overly harsh.

You wouldn't last 5 minutes as a landlord with that attitude. Rule number 1 is recognising when you have a good tenant. Coming down hard on someone who has otherwise paid on time every month and who looks after the property well, could be a disaster. Believe me, I would not want to piss off a good tenant and then find myself with an empty property while I search for someone else who, for all I know, could trash the place and/or default on payments. Seriously, 3 days late on one occasion is not a huge deal.

Also, a landlord / tenant relationship should be equal, like any business relationship. A bit of give and take on both sides if needed. "Coming down hard"? You must have had some terrible landlords.

Another reason for regulation. Yes you would end up with some frivolous complaints, but it would raise standards.

A reasonable person who isn't taking the piss would, if they knew there was going to be a cash flow issue with 3 days' notice, go and speak to their bank and arrange a temporary overdraft so that they can pay their rent on time. Why should the agent or landlord take the financial hit? If the cashflow issue is the undisputed fault of someone else (eg admin cockup with new job meant you missed the deadline for being registered with payroll in month 1 of a new job) then you get that individual or organisation to pay for the expenses you incurred due to their cockup. If it was your fault then you pay the costs - delaying paying your rent is ultimately forcing someone else to go into unexpected debt for a few days and making them bear the cost. That is not reasonable.

I've rented for ten years and never been late once. If you pulled that with me if I was a landlord I would come down just as hard. Get it together.

I hope you didn’t tell the agent to relax. Would you have been this casual if it was a mortgage?

YABVU! You could be costing the landlord and the agency additional charges. I find the fact that you don’t think it’s a big deal shocking to be honest!

I do think that lots of letting agents see tenants as the ‘scum of the earth’. My best friend went to view a rental house recently, and I went with her. The agent was a complete arse, turning up 25 minutes late and speaking to her like dirt when we looked round.

It’s unfortunate but I do know what you mean. You’ve tried to do the right thing but in reality, if you hadn’t told them then it probably would have taken more than the three days for them to realise it was late and catch up with you, by which time it would have been paid. Unlikely those three days have affected anything for the landlord as imagine they would be wise to leave sufficient time in between receiving rent and making any mortgage payments if applicable to deal with things like this and as you say, you don’t make a habit of this behaviour.

If you have financial issues when the rent is paid two days later once, you can't afford to be a landlord.

What difference, exactly?

Yabu. Admin issues you need to sort. You ask not tell. Rent you pay or time like you would with a mortgage.

I am bringing the landlords salary into it as a mortgage has to be paid (if of course the property is mortgaged) you may pay your rent on 28th and they pay the mortgage 29th if the funds aren't there they can't pay the mortgage/struggle with their own bills.

Really living somewhere two years and not being late on your rent isn't much of a flex.

You may deal with a lettings agency but they don't actually own the property/pay the mortgage so the landlord is definitely involved.

I am sadly not surprised by the response that you received. Another argument for proper licensing and regulation of letting and estate agents.

Not that two wrongs make a right.

You were very naive to contact them and inform them in advance, would you go to police and tell them you are going to drive through a red light before you did it? It's the same point. You've breached your contract and it is never going to be received well telling them of that in advance, when at that point you should be taking all steps to ensure you don't breach. You wasted their time and went on to then breach your contract, this is on you entirely.

Sounds harsh but I have to agree. If I paid my mortgage late, there would be all sorts of consequences. Not sure I'd get away with sending a message and thinking that would be the end of it.

What would be the point in asking? If the funds are not available, they're not available.

My tenant has paid rent 2-3 days late on several occasions over the 4 years he has rented from me. It is really not a big issue.

You should have been asking, not telling.