Buy to let landlords face growing rent arrears (22/07/2010)

A fifth of private-residential landlords have had tenants in rent arrears over the last three months, according to new research published today by the National Landlords Association.
 
    During Q2 2010, just over 21 per cent of landlords experienced rental arrears. This represents a small improvement on the previous quarter when 24.5 per cent of landlords reported the same. However, the average amount of outstanding rent arrears has dropped significantly from £978 in Q1 to £799 in Q2. This could indicate that financial pressures on tenants have started to ease as the fragile economic recovery continues.
 
    “Rent arrears are a serious problem for landlords all over the UK said NLA Chairman David Salusbury. It is good to see the latest data which represents a small improvement in that more tenants are keeping up with their rent payments and not putting pressure on their landlords who may well have mortgage repayments to consider. It is critical that tenants and landlords communicate and work together to tackle financial problems before they result in a loss of rent or even the tenancy.”
 
The NLA has recently launched a rent arrears service which gives landlords the option of instructing the NLA Rent Arrears Rent Recovery Team to collect outstanding rental amounts from tenants. Acting on a landlord’s behalf, NLA Rent Arrears will contact tenant(s) by telephone or letter, visit them at the rental property, serve notices (where appropriate) and undertake possession proceedings.
 


By Andy Stern

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