Tenant asking for covid rent reduction, WWYD

[psychedelephant]

My tenants have asked if I could reduce the rent due to cv and I've said I'm happy to work something out. Wondering what other landlords are doing.
I suggested they do a financial statement, look at the benefits calculator and work out what they can afford but they keep bouncing it back to me.

I asked the letting agent (I'm the tenant) when I found put husband was furloughed. They basically said landlords they work with are agreeing to payment holidays but all rent will be due eventually. Either overpay later to make up the deficit or will be take from deposits.
Thankfully I've pulled it together this month but great know the option is there.
Mortgage holiday still accrues interest for you.

*found out
Not put

Just to give you an example of another landlord’s decision - my daughter is at uni and her and all her (8!) flat mates left their property at the beginning of March. The landlord has insisted on no reduction whatsoever, even though bills are also included in their rent. So he wants full rent of £500 per month, per 9 students, for 4 months of not a soul living there. There’s nothing we can do, we signed a contract. You don’t have to reduce the rent but I think we’d thought a minimum 20% reduction (bearing in mind ours includes bills too) would have been about right and decent??

How do you know they wont get benefits? If you csnt get benefits you must be having enough money coming in to pay rent

Small not fallen out, I suspect one is controlling. This person was unpleasant to people who've done work in the property. Not necessarily relevant to a rent reduction, I'm just wondering if that would explain the odd communication.

And fyi my landlord sent out a letter reminding us they were a priority debt to be paid and they now wanted paying monthly in advance (its usually fortnightly) they also gave us information about where to go for a food bank voucher 🙄 and said if we struggle we might want to contact the gas and electricity suppliers or "reduce our outgoings" I believe there was a paragraph about is sky tv essential and a website to search cheaper broadband

Janus blimey, that seems a bit rough.
slippery they've said one tenant on very little UC, the other ineligible, but no reason. One has a job I'd expect to offer some security but who knows, it's such an odd time.

slippery wow, surely the landlord is changing the terms of the contract by asking for bigger lump sums, and creating the possibility that people won't be able to afford it? I mean it's not unreasonable for people to contact other creditors to arrange a payment plan but that isn't going to magic up an extra two weeks' rent in advance - ?

Janus, that's harsh, especially as it normally includes bills.

Perhaps a 20% reduction?

If they have a genuine reason to have their rent reduced they will be able to provide information regarding their income etc. If they are not prepared to do this tell them you will not consider a rent reduction.

@Janus How the frig are there 9 people in one property?

I’m sorry but you sound completely unsympathetic. I know quite. a few ppl who are tenants and LLs have agreed to rent reductions but to be paid at a later date, none of this intrusive crap of proving their income being emailed forms. Either agree or don’t, horrible behaviour.

Just ask them for a proposal supported by numbers/reasons

Just asking for a ‘reduction’ without specifying why is unreasonable.

Beaut the thing about that is, while it seems reasonable and I wouldn't be opposed to a 20% reduction, it's a bit random and possibly not helpful. It helps if you're on a slightly reduced income but not if say, you're without any money for a month or if your money is late.

My mum is TERRIBLE with money. Her DH earns plenty but they both spend it like crazy and rent being paid on time is most definitely not a priority. If they suddenly get paid £10K in a lump sum, instead of say, paying that year's £1K council tax, she'll still not pay it and instead make payments to the debt recovery company when it comes to it and rant and rave about the council being unreasonable because she "only paid a single day late!" And longer, nearly every single month

Her DH can no longer work due to covid. He's newly self employed and doesn't have the required 3 yr tax returns etc for the 80% SE payments. But they are just saying no to paying rent. That's it. It's a shrug of the shoulders and the reasoning as "there's nothing they can do about it!"
They're not applying for UC because apparently there's no point. And it's stupid because you have to reapply and resubmit everything every month...

OP, a genuine person would work with you. They would try to get all the help they could. They would use their savings to keep a roof over their heads. My mum is a pisstaker. I would never have her as a tenant and I would be less likely to renew tenancies people who won't prioritise rent and won't try to work something reasonable out..

If they refuse to give evidence, they are taking the p1ss.

Tenants are human beings, not cash machines in case anyone is unclear. In this together seems to not apply to SOME landpeople.

I had a bad agent so I left them for much better firm. A decent agent would be registered with ARLA, as a basic requirement.

Sorry OP, but I have a gut feeling that your tenants are up to something bad. I speak as a landlord who has known bad tenants, so I got an agency then got a better agency.
(Many tenants are perfectly honest, of course.)

@Smallgoon , it’s a typical student accommodation, every room apart from a bathroom or one kitchen is a bedroom, probably lots of rooms divided up from the original rooms! Landlord offered a £2 each reduction a month for turning the WiFi off, generous!!

@RebelWhoWashesFor19Seconds Your mum sounds like a charmer

@JKScot4 I disagree with you here. I think the OP is being reasonable, and is asking for genuine advice given how little she knows about her tenants' actual situation, since they are being quite vague.

I will say though, that some of the comments in this thread, particularly from landlords, leave me despairing at humankind. Whatever happened to being kind. I mean, a lot of you are having your mortgages paid (and then some!) and are in very fortunate positions. Maybe stop and think for a single second of those that are not so privileged.

I had tenants who wanted to pay half rent but couldn’t show any reduction in income. I refused and said if they genuinely couldn’t afford it they could move out (they had moved back to their parents and abandoned the tenancy. There’s a lot of taking the p at the moment. A mortgage holiday would just defer payment- why should the tenants not pay because of that.

To my mind being refused UC means either they have more than £ 16,000 in savings or their salaries are too much each month to warrant government help