What if your tenant doesn’t pay rent?

 

If you are a landlord and your tenant has stopped paying rent, what can you do? Well there are various avenues down which to precede – but the first thing you could do is take a rent deposit when the lease is agreed  to protect yourself (at least in part) against any default.

 

We will run through some of the other means of tackling this common issue.

 

Forfeiture of Lease

 

Forfeiture of the lease can allow landlords to instruct bailiffs to enter the property and change the locks so that the former tenant can no longer enter the building. At the time of writing the law prevents possession for a specific period due to restrictions imposed by the government because of the Covid 19 lockdown.

 

Court

 

Court proceedings may be entered into and the tenants may be legally required to leave the property – but this would still need to be enforced after the fact.

 

Recover from guarantor

 

In certain cases tenants may have been asked to find a guarantor to act as a person responsible for  their rent. This means the guarantor is liable to pay off their debts should the tenant become unable to do so. A guarantor may be required if a person does not have a credit history.

 

Conclusion

 

It is important to be aware of these features of the legal system if you are renting private or commercial property. A rent deposit is always a good idea, but it will only cover arrears up to a certain point. It is worth bearing in mind that due to Covid 19 there have been temporary changes made to certain areas of commercial law.