WIBU to use rent money

[DoorMat1010]

Suddenly my car needs a lot of work. It's used on a daily basis and I can't get round it, I need it for work.

There's around £450 worth of repairs to be done to the car and rent is £500.

Obviously I'll speak to the agency first but for the last 3 years I've paid rent on time or even a week earlier.

I can pay the overdue off over the next 10 months at £50 a month.

Feel like I'm up shits creek without a paddle.

WIBU to do it?

And in relevance to this thread shining example? Should the LL therefore have to pay in order for the op to fix her car?

Why should a LL absorb the OP not paying their rent?

Get the bus. Everybody with a car thinks they NEED one, but you really don't. Also, the very last payment you should ever skip is your mortgage or rent.

Craigie I'm guessing you don't live in the west country - public transport is rarely a viable option. Dc wouldn't be at school in time and I wouldn't get to work (btw dc are at catchment school but it's still a 45 minute walk - the joys of country life). Yabu to assume everyone lives with access to public transport.
But no you shouldn't not pay rent. Credit card with 0 % finance for a year would give you the 10 months you need to pay it off and would help credit rating. Not paying rent for one month can be very damaging. Good luck op.

I would speak to your bank and explain you are in financial difficulty. Ask if there's a department you can speak to. I used to work for a bank and they have to try to help. Even if this isn't lending more money they might freeze fees on your overdraft and credit card for a certain period.

Please talk to your LL. I've been one - tenant said nothing defaulted and it went to court finally (in my favour). Horrible all round and I would have been able to help if she had talked to me. Some firms offer employee loans. Talk to a money helpline. At least they will sympathise and help.

You can live without a car, it's a luxury not an essential despite what people think.
I have 5 children and work, I have no car, I've managed to go to Cornwall, Paris, Birmingham all a few hundred miles from me using public transport. You can wait for the car, your rent is much more important.

Hi Would it not be possible to speak to your employer first?

They know you. They know you need the car to carry out your working day - which is for them - so it's to their advantage that you have a working car. They know exactly your salary situation and they also know if they plan to continue to employ you for the next year: so they know they will get their money back at the rate of £50/m or not. Their money is guaranteed as they can deduct £50 a month from your salary. You won't get a bad credit rating (from your Landlord or anyone else) and you won't pay interest on a loan. Simples! But I would be concerned if I was in a job where I couldn't budget for some inevitable bills such as my car maintenance. Is it time for a pay rise, perhaps?

Robsters the OP has stated that she needs her car for her job.

I could theoretically live without a car, but in doing so I would lose my job as there is no public transport available that would get me to work on time, and the last bus home leaves an hour before I actually finish work.

as a landlord you are not an employee with a contract whereby you have a fixed wage

No, as a tenant you have a contract whereby you have a set amount a month by a due date to pay the rent!

But although I've just posted that, I don't actually think that the OP would be justified in not paying her rent, I was just making a general point.

I'm guessing the op does some sort of care work, from house to house, I doubt public transport would be suitable.

Op, what is the point of starting a thread, not to read the responses?

I know someone who lives on their rent because it is now the only income, apart from a small pension, they have. Why on earth should they have to finance somebody's car repairs when it stops them paying their bills?

However, we have a tenant who has managed to get into debt with her rent, enough to evict if we wanted to, but she has made vast improvements because she viewed it as a long term home before her troubles started. I would sooner have a good tenant who sometimes fell on hard times than a bad tenant who damages the place but paid the rent regularly. Her renewal date has come and gone but, provided she keeps to the payment plan, we will stick with her. Sadly, I know many landlords whose alarm bells would have been ringing and she would have been gone at the renewal date.

OP stopped reading a while ago apparently

The last company I worked for had a hardship fund for precisely such situations - they gave a lump sum advance then it was taken from your salary at an agreed rate. I'd be asking my employer for help before I asked the landlord. But even before I did that I'd be discussing it with dh.

Missed the post about her job being door to door work. In that case you should always budget for circumstances like this.

Why didn't you just ask your husband first? If he can afford the rent you are very unreasonable to not pay the landlord!

If you rent are you jointly liable, the same way as you are with a mortgage? In which case it wouldn't be a case of her husband offering to pay her half, he'd be obliged to pay?

Have you tried your local credit union? The one local to me does loans as soon as you open an account at a reasonable rate and they tend to have links with CAB so that you get get some longer term budgeting /debt advice.

Get the bus. Everybody with a car thinks they NEED one, but you really don't.

I'm a private tutor. How do you suggest I get between pupils' houses in 15minutes without a car? It's a nice thought that no one really needs a car. Unfortunately writing something in bold doesn't necessarily make it true.

For some a car may be a luxury, others a necessity.

Shift workers etc, I work 32 miles away from home, there is public transport it takes 2 hours plus.

Bus from village to town, one an hour, runs between 8 am and 5 pm Monday to Saturday, then train one an hour 7 am to 6 pm again Monday to Saturday, overall journey time 2 hours 45 mins if connections work. Sunday no chance.

Not a lot if use when I work a shift pattern over a seven day week either required to start at 5 - 6 am or I finish round about midnight and before anyone says get a job closer to home, I work in a transport setting and there is no option working closer to home, I wish there was.

When I worked at a different location 100+ miles away I did use public transport more often but weekends and bank holidays were impossible, plus I wasn't at all comfortable using it in remote locations late at night.

Haven't read all posts so things may have moved on but if you're really in such a bad place financially, although I'd agree tent has to be the priority, why not ask your land lord to pay an extra 50 per month ? Better to do it with permission.

I've been a landlord and a tenant at various points in my life. I would certainly ask the landlord if you have a good relationship and if you have been a good tenant.
While it is easy to get tenants generally it is not easy to get tenants who are reliable, look after the property and stick around for a long time.
It is worth making the occasional arrangement like this to keep a good tenant because if you had to leave because you lost your job or they kicked you out there would probably be a vacant period between tenants where they would lose at least a month's rent anyway.
Also sometimes despite a tenant having great references etc etc they can turn out to be nightmares and you never know when you are about to be landed with one who will cause problems.
So maybe you can make an arrangement with your landlord. Sometimes the tenant landlord relationship is not just about money and it can be very important to keep a good tenant as long as the situation is a definite one-off and properly arranged and agreed and stuck to.

Get the bus. Everybody with a car thinks they NEED one, but you really don't

Such a stupid statement. If I didn't have to work I could get the bus, lovely! But as I have a job that is 12 miles away and not on any bus routes, and have to drop my son and pick him up at fixed times, I need a car.
If I didn't have a car I would have a 30 minute walk to school, then a 20 minute walk to the train station, a 30 minute journey
To the nearest station (changing trains as different lines) followed by a 15 minute walk to my office. In case you can't work it out that's 1hr 35 minutes each way. I'd arrive at work at 9.45 and have to leave at 4. I'm not sure my employer would go for that.

I rent a property out, and my last tenant decided to pay late on 2 occasions. No prior warning and I ended up chasing the payment. It was very stressful and I'd have been a lot more sympathetic (on the first occasion at least) had they spoken to me. Please let your landlord know and discuss this first. LL likely has a mortgage and their own cashflow situation. Rent first.