Rent arrears in a private tenancy
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Video: How to make a rent repayment plan
Video transcript
Follow these steps to make a realistic, clear repayment plan to help you pay off rent arrears.
1. Write a budget
A debt adviser can help you with a budget.
You can use online tools like the one on the National Debtline website to make your own.
Record your income and all your monthly spending, like rent, utility bills, council tax and food.
This helps you to see if there's anywhere you can make savings. It also helps you to make a realistic repayment plan if you're behind with rent.
It's really common for people to underestimate how much we spend on some things.
For things like clothes or car repairs, work out roughly what you would spend in a year and divide it by 12 to get a monthly figure.
That way, you won't miss anything when you're working out what you can afford to pay towards your rent arrears.
2. Check what you can afford to pay
Use your budget sheet to look at where you can make savings and if you could have any money left over.
The sheet needs to show you can afford to pay your monthly rent plus an amount towards your arrears.
If it doesn't, ask your debt and benefits adviser if they can help you to claim benefits, get money help or deal with debts.
3. Write down your repayment plan
Note down what you can afford to pay each month.
Don't agree to higher payments that you can't afford.
If you do end up missing payments it might be difficult to get the landlord to agree to another repayment plan.
4. Send it to your landlord
Send the repayment plan and the budget to your landlord in a letter, email or message.
Keep a copy of what you send and their reply.
Keep your plan up to date if things do change.
Shelter adviser Hayden explains how to make a repayment plan for rent arrears.
[Video length: 01:43]
Make a budget sheet
A debt adviser can help you make a budget sheet, or 'financial statement' to check your income and spending. You use this to work out how much you can afford to pay off your arrears each week or month.
Use the National Debtline advice tool to work out your income and spending yourself. You can save and update the form if things change.
Include all your spending - even if you do not often spend money on some things. For example, clothes or car repair costs.
For these types of spending, work out how much you spend in a year. Divide it by 12 to get an idea of how much you pay for these things each month.
Example: Change yearly costs to a monthly amount
Jo wants to work out her monthly car repair costs for her budget sheet.
She paid £300 for repairs to her car in December last year.
She has not had any other car repairs costs in the last 12 months.
Jo divides £300 by 12 to get a monthly average cost of £25.
Make a repayment plan
You can use your budget sheet to make a repayment plan to pay off the rent you owe.
Look at your income and spending. See if there's anywhere you could make savings.
Your repayment plan needs to show you can afford to pay:
your rent
a regular amount towards the arrears each month
Be realistic about how much you can afford to pay towards rent arrears. Make sure you still have enough to pay for things you need like bills, food and travel to work or school.
It's better to make smaller payments and take longer to pay off what you owe than to struggle to afford things you need.
Send the repayment plan to your landlord
You can use our letter template to write to your landlord with a repayment plan.
Breathing space
A debt adviser could put you on the breathing space scheme. This is sometimes called the debt respite scheme.
The scheme pauses some types of court action for rent arrears and other debts. It could pause eviction for rent arrears.
It gives you time to get debt advice and make a repayment plan.
Last updated: 26 November 2024
