All LLs need to recalibrate their thinking about tenants at the moment because there has been a humongous economic shift in all markets, including rental.
Lots of LLs are going to find their tenants can’t pay the rent they signed up for due to redundancy. It will be hard to get decent new jobs. LLs can choose to give 3 months notice from the end of Aug or not to renew a short term tenancy. They will know that the tenants may well struggle to rent elsewhere. This is different to random unemployment of usual times but a mass unforeseen globL pandemic and economic crisis. It is not people being idle or spendthrift.
And then the LL faces a different market. The previous rent may well not be achievable anyway. Tenants generally are pushing for lower rents and it might be necessary to offer signifocNtky lower rent to secure a tenant who will pay and has a reliable job ....if it’s possible to even have that at the moment ...perhaps public sector teacher etc. If insisting on higher rent it might be necessary to take someone with less good references or less reliable job. So there is the trade off between perhaps lower more certain rent and higher riskier rent. Most LLs will choose a bird in the hand at the moment and not risk voids or lower rents still or unknown tenants.
In the end Op, these are the choices you face. Actually in this scenario, what is best for you, probably helps the tenant too.
Try to have spoken chats with them at every point, followed with emails confirming details. Alwayslook to discuss and find solutions with them. They have been good tenants for a long time and so if you can find a way to mKe it work it will be worth it for you. Discuss revisiting the issue every 3 months. Discuss possibilities of a repayment plan after this first 6 month reduction is over - it might or might not be possible. In your own mind, try to recLibrate your business model to receiving 75% of old rent levels.
And take a long term view. Difficulties can and do come along. You hVe to be able to weather them like any business and if you can’t without action such as evicting people made jobless by a pandemic, you probably don’t have enough slack built in and maybe finding a Different investment vehicle is right for you. Think about 10 years and income and capital appreciation and all the costs you will incur in providing your service and see odd periods of void or reduced rent as unavoidable costs like other unavoidable costs to any business. If you need to squeeze the 100% rent to make it viable and 80 or 75% won’t mKe it viable, you’ve cut it too fine.
Factor in costs of marketing and new tenancy agreements and probably at least 1 or 2 months empty .....thTs a lot of 20% reductions, plus the loss of reliable known people. How much are those qualities worth to landlords do you think?
It’s this recalibration which is needed and difficult for some. Successful landlords and business people have built in flexibility for crises to occur and adjust their pricing and terms when needed. Others are very rigid and inflexible and ultimately do less well or exit the market. In this market they also impact the lives of others very directly too.