Landlords, have you got a plan if the tenant can’t make their rent.

[Dowser]

My tenant is in a very vulnerable position in a store in the shopping centre.
If we go into lockdown for any length of time, then they might struggle . Her partner does work , hopefully at something that is more protected.

Wondered what steps you are going to take?

I've just frozen the rent for the next few months. I don't have a mortgage on the apartment and the tenants own a small business and are going to struggle. I can't do much, but at least I can do this for them.

@thecatneuterer I agree that l wouldn't expect landlords to have plans longer than six months of non payment.

Our landlord is the local diocese. You'd expect some Christian understanding and generosity wouldn't you?

They put our rent up last week.

@ramblingmum there is indeed the argument that landlords should always have enough in savings to cover a break in rent. But the argument doesn't help "accidental" landlords who had no choice but to move due to family circumstances but can't sell due to negative equity, and whose rent just about covers the mortgage interest, and whose own job (small private-sector business) and whose partner's job (self-employed sole trader) suddenly grind to a halt due to the current situation? I've asked my tenant to let me know as soon as possible if they find themselves in difficulty so we can come up with a plan between us, and if it comes to the crunch I will have to rely on loans from family members to tide over the mortgage interest. I'm fully aware of the mortgage payment holidays offered by lenders - these have always been available to those in financial difficulty, just that lenders didn't openly advertise them - but the interest is rolled-up and added to the mortgage balance, it only compounds the problem later down the line as additional interest is charged on the rolled-up balance, and we're left with the option of either increasing the rent when the tenant can't afford to pay it, or swallowing the shortfall ourselves when we've got no income either.

A couple of points here

1. mortgage holidays have always been widely available so nothing new has been offered. They are generally not a good idea unless desperate as the interest even when you are not paying still applies. It will compound to either increase your term or your payment so you pay extra in the long run for the privelige. Deferring payments may also affect your credit score so it must be explicitly agreed it will not do so
2. the Tenant Fees Act makes it illegal to recoup your money by charging higher payments down the line. You can thank scummy unscrupulous landlords for that little gem. You must word any variations to rent very carefully to avoid being forced to accept the reduced rent permanently

Just some things to take into account

There is no prospect of either of us having an income for 6 months realistically- we are both self employed

Just on this point. Supermarkets, care homes and the NHS near me are crying out for temporary workers. I assume it's the same up and down the country. There's no need to not have any income for 6 months

Own it outright.
I have decided I would reduce the rent and will as soon as asked to do so. I would want to be paid something but would accept half or even quarter rent. They seem to need quite regular visits from plumbers etc despite the house being well maintained and 10 years old, so enough to cover expenses.
I am not working myself due to this so need something coming in from the property ideally.
My tenant works for HMRC I think so hoystill in a job. Death and taxes.

@anyfucker TSB have confirmed the three-month payment holiday won't be reflected on borrowers' credit reports, but I can't speak for other lenders.

I expect most will @AWaspOnAWindowReturns but I would get it in writing

I hope my landlord will be as nice as you all are

@Greysparkles not where I live I'm afraid. I live over an hour away from a town with supermarkets. Many people in the UK live very, very rurally like me.

I would also rather give the job to people who have no income at all, who have children to feed. In my village, which relies on tourism, nearly every young person has lost their job.

I’m a landlord and trying to work through this all now with my tenants

Those landlords who are giving rental holidays - are these totally free to the tenants or are you expecting them to pay the money back at a later date? I’m happy to give mine a discount and deferral but interested to hear the consensus.

We're expecting that they pay the rent still when they are both working as they are key workers (NHS medics) but our other tenants might not be working - they have let us know they are a vulnerable group (which we know to be true) so they will be able to have a rent holiday if they are unpaid. We'd like it to be paid back as and when they can but will be putting no pressure on them for this, we have the properties as an investment for the long term and so can wait this crisis out.

I am a landlord too and am awaiting further clarification from the govt regarding whether wage subsidies will be introduced

I am also corresponding with my landlord group who are working on producing clear guidance by early next week

RLA has some information freely on website 7 points out some problems with this both for the tenants & landlords - for a starter one I didn't think of: if you are renting out a flat how will you as LL pay the maintenance charges etc shouldn't you (& other flat owners too) have a holiday on those? & that Universal Credit should kick in straight away no 5 week wait & so on

Our tenant has been with us long term and I'd much rather support them with a rental holiday than go through the pain of finding someone else. Fortunately we own our property outright so it's not a massive issue.

@AnyFucker
www.whatmortgage.co.uk/news/three-month-rental-payment-holiday-announced-tenants/
this states that after the rent holiday the tenant & landlord should work together for an affordable payment plan - this is different from changes in rent = this is repaying a debt

I think most rent arrears insurance requires the tenant to be evicted

We rent and I would be terrified to get behind on the rent even if the landlord overlooks it now o will worry about it building resentment for the future - once this is all over. Dh and I are both self employed so it may mean some pretty hard choices in the near future.

We have had to move twice in the last two years - once the landlord wanted to sell and the second time the house has so much damp it was seriously a health hazard and the landlord wasn’t interested.

I can’t face another move.

We have 6 rental houses. One is empty as we are redecorating and putting in a new kitchen. Tenants want to move in straight after Easter. All of our tenants have been living in our houses for a long time. One family for 7 years. We have been very lucky and all good tenants. If any become ill and o ly missed a month we would pay mortgage ourself, if one of them lost their job and could not pay rent we would ask for mortgage holiday on that property. Some familys have children so we would wait until they got another job. We would not throw them out on the streets. We make enough money from other properties to cover one or even two with no tenants.

@HerOutdoors, We are buying four of our 6 houses and two are interest only.

We've halved the rent for three months to give them a break. We do have a mortgage so will have to put money towards it but they're good tenants and we don't want to lose them. They were overjoyed with the proposal.

@OP You claim your mortgage break

The same as any other time a tenant has genuine difficulties, it's just an expense I factor in. If I'd been out and bought them all with mortgages and genuinely couldn't afford to pay the mortgage without the rent, I'd just have to take breaks and accept my investments would take longer to pay off.

Shirley will be judging it individually. I've already decided that barring a lottery win, I won't be asking one to clear any arrears. Incidentally also the tenant most likely to start struggling first and for the longest period. Others it will depend on their fortunes down the line. Mainly from human decency. And to a lesser extent because losing months of rent from a good long term tenant is still a lot cheaper than a flow of short term tenants, let alone a bad one.