Third of landlords have tenants struggling with rent

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 12:42:48 GMT

Almost 40 per cent of UK landlords have tenants who are currently having trouble paying their rent.

New research from the National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed that a third of landlords are having difficulty with rental arrears, with 44 per cent having similar problems over the last six months.

Moreover, only 50 per cent of those landlords have tried to recoup the money owed to them.

According to the research, some landlords who have attempted to reclaim the rent money from their tenants have found that their cases have taken up to three months to be heard in court.

NLA chairman David Salusbury said that the issue of rental arrears is now a "serious problem" for many UK-based landlords.

He commented: "Paying the rent has to be right at the top of tenants' priorities as even one month's arrears, in this climate, could be the straw which breaks the camel's back."

Mr Salusbury went on to say that arrears of just one month could be enough to cause a landlord a lot of financial grief.

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