As of June 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice — consult a solicitor for your specific situation.

Every landlord dreads opening a bank statement and seeing a gap where the rent should be. Unfortunately, arrears are not rare: as of Q1 2026 roughly 30% of UK landlords reported experiencing arrears at some point over the previous year (around 846,000 landlords), and average rental arrears hit a record £2,281 according to deposit-alternative provider Reposit. With Section 21 abolished since 1 May 2026, recovering possession now takes longer and costs more than it used to. The upshot is simple — keeping a tenant out of arrears in the first place is dramatically cheaper than chasing them through court once they are in it.

Prevention: the cheapest arrears insurance you can buy

The most cost-effective intervention happens before the tenancy begins. A rigorous tenant referencing and affordability check is the closest thing to a guarantee you have that rent will arrive on time. The standard income-to-rent rule of thumb used by referencing agencies is that a tenant’s gross annual income should be at least 2.5 to 3 times the annual rent — broadly, rent of no more than around 30% of gross income. Tenants who are financially overstretched from day one will struggle the moment any unexpected cost appears: a broken boiler, a change in employment, a new baby.

An affordability check also surfaces payment history. A pattern of missed credit payments or county court judgements does not always predict a bad tenant, but it is information you should have before handing over the keys. The PropertyGoose pricing page sets out what a full reference costs; from around £14 per check (less at volume) it is a fraction of one month’s lost rent, let alone the £3,000-plus you could spend on a contested eviction.

If your tenant receives Universal Credit, you can ask the DWP to set up a Managed Payment (a type of Alternative Payment Arrangement) so the housing element is paid directly to you rather than the tenant. The DWP should consider a managed payment once a tenant is two months or more in arrears, and may agree one earlier on a needs basis. Note that the Fair Repayment Rate, in force from 30 April 2025, reduced the cap on most Universal Credit deductions from a claimant’s standard allowance from 25% to 15%, which can slow recovery of any arrears repaid through deductions — another reason to front-load your checks.

Month one: respond the moment rent is late

Do not wait. Contact the tenant by phone or text as soon as the payment is overdue — missed deadlines are often administrative errors, not deliberate non-payment. Follow up the same day with an email or letter (first-class post, keep proof of postage) confirming the amount owed and asking when they expect to pay.

Keep records of every communication from this point forward. A detailed rent schedule — showing each due date, the amount expected, the amount received, and any shortfall — will be essential evidence if you end up in court.

Weeks two to four: formalise the situation

If the arrears are not cleared within fourteen days, send a more formal letter. State clearly:

The total amount outstanding and when it fell due
That you expect immediate payment or a credible repayment proposal
That continued non-payment may result in possession proceedings

If the tenant has a guarantor, copy them in at this stage. Guarantors are often highly motivated to resolve the situation quickly to protect their own credit rating.

At this point you may also want to explore a repayment plan — for example, the tenant pays their usual monthly rent plus an agreed sum each month until the debt is cleared. Get any plan in writing. Courts look favourably on landlords who have made reasonable attempts to resolve arrears before resorting to legal action.

The Section 8 route: what’s changed under the Renters’ Rights Act

From 1 May 2026 the rules changed significantly. Section 21 (no-fault eviction) is gone. Every possession claim now goes through Section 8. For rent arrears, four grounds are relevant:

Ground 8 — mandatory. The court must grant possession if the ground is proved. As of 1 May 2026, the threshold has increased from two months to three months’ arrears (or 13 weeks’ rent for weekly or fortnightly tenancies). The arrears must meet this threshold on both the date you serve the notice and the date of the court hearing. If your tenant pays enough to bring arrears below three months before the hearing, Ground 8 fails. Minimum notice period: four weeks (up from two).

Ground 8A — mandatory (new). Targets repeated serious arrears: where a tenant has been at least two months in arrears on three or more occasions within the previous three years, even if they are currently up to date. Notice period: four weeks. This closes the loophole of clearing arrears just before each hearing.

Ground 10 — discretionary. Covers any level of unpaid rent. No minimum threshold. The judge decides whether possession is reasonable. Notice period: four weeks.

Ground 11 — discretionary. Covers persistent late payment, even if the tenant is currently paid up. There is no fixed numerical test; the court weighs the overall pattern of late payment and decides whether possession is reasonable. Notice period: four weeks.

Practical reality: because Ground 8 now requires three full months of arrears before you can even serve, then a further four-week notice period before filing, plus court processing time, you are realistically looking at several months’ lost rent before a possession order is made — and longer once bailiff enforcement is added. Recent Ministry of Justice statistics put the median time from claim to a possession order at roughly eight weeks, and from claim to repossession by county court bailiff at roughly 28 weeks, though waits vary widely by area. At current average rents that is a significant sum. The case for front-loading prevention is stronger than it has ever been.

One important UC protection: under the Renters’ Rights Act, when calculating whether the Ground 8 threshold is met, the court must disregard any arrears that arose solely because the tenant had not yet received a Universal Credit housing payment they were entitled to. If your tenant is on UC and the arrears are entirely benefit-processing-related, seek specialist advice before serving notice.

The Section 8 process in practice

Serve the correct Section 8 notice on the prescribed form — Form 3A for private-sector assured tenancies from 1 May 2026 (the older Form 3 is now only for social housing) — specifying the grounds. The notice period runs from service, not drafting.
Wait out the notice period (four weeks for Grounds 8, 8A, 10 and 11).
If arrears remain, file the claim using Form N5 and Form N119 via the Possession Claim Online portal, or at your local county court. The court fee to issue is currently £404.
Attend the hearing. If successful on Ground 8 or 8A, the court issues an outright possession order. Discretionary grounds may instead result in a suspended order — the tenant can stay if they meet payment conditions.
If the tenant does not vacate, apply for a warrant of possession (Form N325, fee £148) for bailiff enforcement.

Budget realistically: solicitor fees for serving notice and attending court typically run several hundred to well over a thousand pounds depending on complexity, on top of court and enforcement fees. Total contested eviction costs can reach £3,000 or more, before the rent arrears themselves.

Beyond eviction: recovering the money

Even after possession is granted, the debt does not disappear. A county court judgement (CCJ) for unpaid rent can generally be enforced for six years without the court’s further permission, and remains a debt beyond that (though enforcement by some methods, such as bailiffs, needs the court’s permission once it is more than six years old). Options to pursue the debt include a warrant of control (enforcement agents to seize goods), an attachment of earnings order, or a third-party debt order if the tenant has a bank account in credit.

Rent guarantee insurance — available as part of landlord policies or as a standalone product, including via partners such as Alan Boswell — can cover rental income loss and legal costs during proceedings. Check the policy carefully: most require you to have referenced the tenant to a specific standard before the policy will pay out, which is another reason thorough referencing at the outset pays dividends.

A final word

Rent arrears are a risk landlords cannot eliminate entirely, but they can manage it down significantly. Rigorous affordability checks before a tenancy starts, prompt communication the moment rent is late, and a clear paper trail throughout are the three habits that make the most difference. If you want to see how comprehensive referencing compares to the alternatives — or get a clearer picture of what a full PropertyGoose reference covers — the compare page is a useful starting point.

Craig Ryder

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Rules change — always check the current position at gov.uk or take professional advice before acting.

Dealing with rent arrears: a landlord's step-by-step action plan