As a social housing landlord, you are required to ensure the quality of your property is up to standard so that your tenants are living in a safe and comfortable environment.
While that is your legal obligation, your tenants are required to pay their rent, and sometimes receiving payments each month can be difficult depending on their circumstances, which is why it is good to have a rent arrears management plan in place.
Tenants may have money concerns for various reasons, but establishing a rent arrears plan allows you to put measures in place to support your tenants and ensure you receive payment.
What does a rent arrears plan look like?
The first steps in your plan should be open communication with your tenant. If they are behind with their payments, you may need to approach the subject sensitively to ensure you can have a conversation.
If your tenant does feel comfortable talking about their current financial struggles, it can help you decide the next course of action, which may be working out a payment plan that means they can manage financially while giving you some form of payment.
Working with your tenants should help calm the situation and avoid rent arrears escalating further and leading to more severe action like evictions and court cases.
You want a working relationship with your tenant, which means both of you are happy and alongside open communication, you should be keeping a record of the rent arrears and what has been agreed.
Keeping a record ensures you know exactly what is owed and what was agreed between yourself and your tenants regarding payments and plans moving forward. By keeping a record, you have clear evidence should the current situation escalate in any way.
Your plan should be proactive and preventative rather than reactive. A proactive and preventative plan helps you reach a fair agreement with your tenant and ensure the situation improves rather than deteriorates.
Why is having a rent arrears management plan so important?
The last thing you and your tenants want is court cases and eviction notices because you both lose out. You lose out on payments and have additional costs to cover, and your tenant is left in a position where they are effectively homeless.
The costs can add up very quickly, leaving you further out of pocket, but having a rent arrears management in place alleviates the chances of that happening.
They allow you to build a better relationship with your tenants so you can reach a compromise to support each other’s needs.
The plan also brings structure, strategy and a clear understanding of what is expected of you as the landlord and the role of your tenant. This will help strive towards the long-term objective of having all outstanding rent paid.
Our team can help put a plan in place
Managing rent arrears is never an easy situation because it needs to be handled in a certain way that ensures you have a plan in place that means consistent payments are being made.
A rent arrears management in place gives you a platform to not only help your tenants, but also to avoid the costly scenarios of evictions and court cases, and our expert team is here to help.
We will give you comprehensive advice and support. We will listen to your current situation and help you put the first steps in place to start speaking with your tenant.
Contact our team for expert advice and support on all rent concerns.
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The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at October 2025.