Rent arrears: what to do when a tenant is not paying rent

Rent arrears meaning

Rent arrears means rent that has fallen due under the tenancy and has not been paid. One missed payment puts a tenant in arrears. The legal grounds for possession use the phrase ‘rent lawfully due from the tenant’, so the figure is the rent owed under the agreement, or under a properly served rent increase, less what has been paid.

Arrears matter at three levels. Any unpaid rent can support a discretionary ground. A pattern of late payment can support another. Once the debt reaches 3 months’ rent, a mandatory ground opens up. This guide covers assured periodic tenancies in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

Sources: Legislation: Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2, Ground 8 · GOV.UK: grounds for possession, guidance for landlords

Tenant not paying rent: what to do first

Start with the facts and a conversation, not a notice. A missed payment can be a late wage, a benefit delay or a bank error. Good records made now are what a court will ask for later.

Keep every contact polite and in writing where you can. Repeated calls, visits or threats can amount to harassment, which GOV.UK’s page on harassment and illegal evictions describes as anything that makes a tenant feel unsafe in the property or forces them to leave. Cutting off services or changing the locks is a criminal offence.

• Check your own records: the rent due date, the amount, and what has actually arrived.
• Write to the tenant with a rent statement showing each payment due and received.
• Ask what has happened and whether they claim Universal Credit or Housing Benefit.
• Agree a repayment plan in writing if one is realistic, and record each payment against it.
• If the tenant has a guarantor, tell them about the arrears in writing.
• Check whether you have had a breathing space notification before taking any recovery step.
• If arrears continue, choose your grounds and prepare a section 8 notice on Form 3A.

Sources: GOV.UK: Form 3A guidance for private landlords, including breathing space (PDF)

Universal Credit: getting rent paid direct to you

If the tenant gets Universal Credit, you can ask the Department for Work and Pensions to pay the housing element straight to you. This is called a managed payment to landlord. GOV.UK says you can request a managed payment or a rent arrears deduction once arrears reach 2 months or more, or a managed payment at 1 month where the tenant has underpaid over a period of time.

You apply online through the ‘Apply for a Direct Rent Payment’ service, and you can do so at any time while the tenant is on Universal Credit. The tenant is usually given 14 days to respond with evidence if they want to object. The tenant, or their work coach, can also ask for the arrangement.

A rent arrears deduction is a separate request: money taken from the tenant’s Universal Credit and paid to you to clear the debt. GOV.UK gives the maximum rate as 15% of the tenant’s standard allowance. The DWP guide is at Universal Credit and rented housing: guide for landlords.

Sources: GOV.UK: Universal Credit and rented housing, guide for landlords

Section 8 notice for rent arrears: Grounds 8, 10 and 11

A section 8 notice for rent arrears can rely on three grounds, and you can put all three on one Form 3A. Each needs 4 weeks’ notice, counted from the day the notice is served. The earliest date you can apply to court is the day after those 4 weeks end.

The rules changed on 1 May 2026. The government’s guide to the Renters’ Rights Act says the mandatory threshold rose from 2 to 3 months’ arrears and the notice period from 2 weeks to 4. Older articles that quote two months and two weeks are out of date. All the other grounds are in our section 8 grounds table.

Sources: GOV.UK: grounds for possession, guidance for landlords · GOV.UK: Form 3A guidance for private landlords, including breathing space (PDF) · GOV.UK: guide to the Renters’ Rights Act

How the Ground 8 threshold works

Ground 8 has to be met twice: on the date the notice is served and on the date of the hearing. If the tenant pays enough before the hearing to bring the debt below 3 months’ rent, the court cannot order possession on Ground 8. That is a reason to add Grounds 10 and 11 alongside it.

Benefit delays are left out of the sum. The Act says that where the tenant is entitled to a housing amount in a Universal Credit award, any rent unpaid only because that payment has not yet been received is ignored. GOV.UK puts it this way: if your tenant owes 3 months’ rent because they have not received their Universal Credit, you will not be able to evict them on this ground.

For rent paid quarterly, the Act requires at least one quarter’s rent to be more than three months in arrears, and for yearly rent at least three months’ rent more than three months in arrears. If your rent runs on a different cycle, such as four-weekly, take advice on how the threshold applies.

Sources: Legislation: Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2, Ground 8 · GOV.UK: grounds for possession, guidance for landlords

Breathing space: when you cannot serve an arrears notice

A breathing space is a legal pause on debt enforcement under the Debt Respite Scheme. A standard one lasts up to 60 days. A mental health crisis breathing space lasts for the length of the treatment plus 30 days. If rent arrears are included, you will get a formal notification from the Insolvency Service.

While it lasts, you and your agent must not contact the tenant about the rent owed, charge fees or interest on it, serve a notice on Grounds 8, 10 or 11, or start a possession claim on an arrears notice already served. Ongoing rent is still due: the government’s guidance says a breathing space is not a payment holiday.

If you served a valid notice before the breathing space began, it can remain valid for 8 weeks after the breathing space ends, even beyond the usual 12 months. You can ask the debt adviser to review a breathing space within 20 days of it starting.

Sources: GOV.UK: Form 3A guidance for private landlords, including breathing space (PDF)

Going to court for rent arrears

If the arrears are still there when the notice period ends, you can apply for a possession order. Where the claim is about unpaid rent and nothing else, GOV.UK lets you use the Possession Claim Online service. The fee is £415, and proceedings must begin within 12 months of serving the notice.

The judge can make a possession order, a money order for the arrears, court fees and legal costs, or both. On Grounds 10 and 11 the judge may suspend the possession order so the tenant can stay if they make the payments stated in the order. GOV.UK also notes that a case can be dismissed if the tenant has paid the rent that was owed.

The court will ask for a statement showing the rent owed, so keep yours up to date to the day of the hearing. The remaining stages, including bailiffs, are in how to evict a tenant in England. The court also checks that any deposit was protected.

Sources: GOV.UK: repossessing your privately rented property on or after 1 May 2026 · GOV.UK: possession hearings and orders

Keeping rent on track afterwards

Where the tenant clears the debt or keeps to a repayment plan, the tenancy carries on, and it helps if its terms are clear. Make sure the rent amount, due date and payment method are written down. For new tenancies these are part of the written statement of terms.

If the rent itself is the problem, remember that a rent rise has its own procedure: see section 13 rent increases and Form 4A. Keep your rent statement up to date in whatever ledger or spreadsheet you already use.

Sources: GOV.UK: grounds for possession, guidance for landlords

Common questions