Has anyone had any experience of telling landlord they can't pay rent this month

[Namechangepanic22]

Hi. I've name changed for this but have been around for ages.

My fiancé has an executive wife who he had an agreement with to payback negative equity on a house they used to own. They were both making payments out of their own bank accounts. It seems that she has declared herself bankrupt and yesterday the Halifax cleared out his entire bank account to cover both the payments.

All of my contribution towards the rent and bills was already in his account so that's gone too. Both of us already have loans and are unable to get anymore so today we have the unenviable task of telling our landlord that the rent will not be paid today, does anyone have any experience of this? How did it go? What was their reaction?

[specialsubject]

Actually it takes up to a year to evict a tenant, and certainly several months from when the notice runs out. Ignore the mn guardian swallowers who say you can be thrown out quickly.

Contact the landlord, tell them the situation and the plan. It doesn't make business sense even to give you notice given that this is a one off and you will be paying back.

And yes, take the above actions with the bank.

[arainydayinearlyspring]

I'm a landlord and would be fine as long as I knew what was happening.

When I was renting years ago I had a landlady from hell though (I actually think she was disturbed) as something odd happened with the DD I'd set up and she went berserk even though the rent was paid within 2 hours

[BlueGoats]

Also a landlord here. I'd want tenants to tell me ASAP (not on or after the day it's due), explain the reason (and why it's a one off), and detail when / how you can pay. I'd most likely accept that as a one off if tenants were good otherwise.

If you can pay part of it on time, that's even better.

[alltouchedout]

Do you not have savings or are you seriously saying your boyfriend has 43p to his name!?

If they had savings do you think they would be in this position? Have some sense!

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

We have a tenant who got into payment difficulties due to being off sick. They told us what was happening and how they were going to pay off the arrears. We gave them time as they were good tenants and eviction is a faff. They made good the shortfall over time and are still our tenants.

[HermioneJeanGranger]

We had issues once when ex-DP was off sick and lost several hundred quid from his pay packet. We explained it to the landlord and because it was a one off, he was fine. We never paid late before or after.

[mnbvcxzl]

Well actually there have been several threads like this before where OP has said they have no money but it has later transpired they had 10k in a savings account but that didn't count apparently as wasn't in a current account...

[Astoria7974]

If you could definitely afford to pay off in full asap. You could try Wonga or a cash advance from a credit card if you def can't get an overdraft limit increase.

In future rental agreement should be in your name. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms the shit his ex's bankruptcy could cause him. All the bills should be in your name and he should transfer money to you.

[CryingShame]

in the meantime do you have anything you could sell, such as DVDs or old clothes, to get some extra cash? Can you cancel the wedding venue to free up the return of part of your deposit so you can give the LL something? It's a grim thing to have to do but I'd prioritise a roof over your head above a wedding venue.

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

I can't believe people actually live like this.

What an extraordinarily blinkered view of the world you have.

[EpoxyResin]

Are they allowed to take money to pay this debt if you can prove that the money wasn't his? I imagine you can prove the transfer from your account on a monthly basis, clearly to be used specifically for your contribution to rent etc, and on that basis it was not his for his bank to use? I know for sure that if you declare bankruptcy that money and assets can't be used to clear your debt if you can prove someone else has a stake in them; surely that would be the same in this case?

I don't know how you'd go about getting the money back though... Any legal experts about??

[Yukbuck]

This is awful. Do you think there's any way you will get that money back? Or at least half? I just don't understand why she'd be allowed to completely clear his personal account out! Especially as lots of that money was yours.
You say you got a letter but had moved. Who was the letter from? Should they have chased up with no response? Could you not have set up for mail to be forwarded? I suppose everything seems simpler in hindsight.
I really hope you get the situation sorted.

[Fooshufflewickbannanapants]

As an aside you could easily feed yourselves for a lot less than 250.

[BeBeatrix]

Yes, when I was renting a flat around 10 years ago. For complicated reasons my salary had been paid into the wrong account. I asked the agents for permission to pay double the next month instead, and the landlord was fine about it.

When I was letting my house a few years later, my tenants also needed to pay a month late, on one occasion. Absolutely fine, given they asked in advance, told me when I could expect to receive the money, and were otherwise prompt payers.

[RebelandaStunner]

Speak to LL asap.
Another LL here. This happened to us when one of our tenants lost their job. He paid us back the next month as he found another job really quickly. He had always paid on time in full for two years previously so we gave him the benefit of the doubt. We never had any problems after either. Also we have LL insurance just in case.

[Happyhippy45]

We have had tenants unable to pay their rent a few times. We had a letting agent dealing with them at the time and they were quite rubbish at getting the rent due to us.
We ended up dealing with the tenants themselves regarding this. They were upfront and honest with us and we are human beings who understand shit happens.
Just tell your LL. It's out of your control just now but it seems you know how to get back on track.
I think there'd only be a problem if your LL was desperate for your rent money and not having it would put them up shit creek.

[Bahh]

Once you transferred your money to his account, it became his money and thus fair game. You won't be able to do anything about that. In future I'd recommend a joint account into which you each put half and ONLY rent and shares household bills come out of.

I've also been in this situation. I was young and suicidal and just ignored it, didn't answer calls and hid around corners when he came to the door. Don't do that, obviously. Explain and as others have said, work out what you can pay back and when and go to them with a plan. People like plans.

And to whoever "can't believe people live like this", what a stupid thing to say. Of course they do. Not everyone has lots of spare income to build up a reserve for emergencies.

[eggsandwich]

Another landlord here, I agree that you contact your landlord immediately and explain the situation, one thing I hate is when a tenant has difficulty with paying their rent and they bury their head in the sand and don't contact me to tell me the situation when we could come to some arrangement, keep all lines of contact open with your landlord if you have been previously a good tenant I would work with you not against you to get it sorted, not all landlords are a bad as the press like to make us out to be.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

Yes contact your Landlord immediately, don't get a pay day loan, the interest is horrendous and will only cause you more financial problems.

Check your contract as it may have information regarding late payment, perhaps a rate of interest? Whatever it says it won't be as bad as taking out an unsecured loan at extortionate cost.

Don't worry, just take action.

[Heifer]

I used to be a LL who used an agent to deal with tenants. When our tenant missed a payment our agent immediately sent them a 30 day notice letter. It was to start the ball rolling in getting them out. It was agreed that if the money owed was paid by a certain date then the letter would be retracted. That was how this agent worked. We were guaranteed rent for up to 6 months if there was a dispute with non paying tenants (obviously took time to sort) so I guess they were trying to cover their own losses too.

The reason I'm telling you this is not to worry you but to show that not all LL will be so understanding as most on here. I went along with what agent suggested. Non payment for us would have been a nightmare as it did help to pay our own bills - but that is why we are no longer LL - we had to sell the house when my husband lost his job.

[witsender]

I would offer the LL a token gesture of £100 or something and be frugal with your food for a month. Then next month you can clear your debt more easily as your other half won't have a payment going out for the house. Are there any ways of reducing transport costs?

[mnbvcxzl]

I just would find it majorly stressful. I think the vast majority of people do have the ability to save, even a little, but just can't be arsed. Not talking about OP as she said they had used savings but in general. There seems to be a ridiculous divide of people on MN who either have 100s of thousands in the bank or people with nothing, most people have somewhere in the middle...!

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

You shouldn't be furious with his ex wife, you should be furious with him and ultimately with yourself for effectively giving him all your money! Why is that his ex wife's fault?

I can't give you any advice on the housing situation, just hope some of the advice from others works from you. But hopefully this will teach you a valuable lesson about being smarter with your money.

[Kiroro]

Can you borrow from family?

If not, call the landlord NOW and explain what has happened.
Be very clear about when and what you can pay e.g. 1.5 rent over the next two months to clear the debt.

You need to go into total 'saving cash' overdrive. Eat down all the food in the cupboards/freezer. Think v carefully about heating and water use. No social activities.

[ShowMePotatoSalad]

And when I say smarter with your money, I mean not handing over every penny you have to someone you aren't even married to and who clearly still has financial links to a third party.