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What are your landlord rights when your tenant stops paying rent?

It’s one of the worst nightmares for landlords – a tenant who hasn’t paid rent for weeks and won’t vacate the property.

 

Unfortunately, a good tenant can quickly turn into a bad tenant.

This can happen due to personal troubles, health issues, drugs, they lose their job or get divorced.

But the problem is, as a property investor you not only stand to lose out on your rental income, which you’re most likely relying on to help pay your mortgage, but you may not be able to access your property or find new tenants until your existing tenants leave.

And the end result is that you could be significantly out of pocket.

So what are your rights as a landlord if this happens?

Well, it all starts before you take on a tenant.

Make sure you check their past rental history using national rental databases and make sure your potential tenant doesn’t overextend themselves.

It’s a good rule to don’t have the rental exceed 30% of the tenants’ combined income, otherwise, they’re more likely to find themselves in mortgage stress.

I believe it’s important to have a good line of communication with your tenant

Do regular inspections of your property and answered any tenant requests promptly.

This should make communication during challenging times a little easier.

Find out why your tenant is in arrears

You should know the day your tenant is in arrears, which is why using RealRenta is key

The first step should be to find out why your tenant isn’t paying rent and to begin making polite enquiries and assist in minimising your loss.

The reason you haven’t received the rent could be something quite simple and easily fixed, such as:

  • simple forgetfulness
  • temporary cash flow problems
  • a misunderstanding between joint tenants

Or it could be something more complicated and long-term, such as:

  • your tenant has lost their job
  • your tenants are a couple and have split up
  • your tenant is suffering from challenging personal issues (such as bereavement or work-related stress).

RealRenta has all the tools that a property manager has, but at over ¼ the cost of a property manager.

Join now and the cost is less than a cup of coffee a week to manage your rental property

RealRenta also has a free vision, so why not check it out

Jason Gwerder
Monday, 22 February 2021


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