Landlords face rental arrears from tenants

22/10/2009

Tenants are having a tough time in making their rental payments, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed.

According to the industry group, 43 per cent of landlords have had a tenant fall into arrears, with almost three in four also saying that they have experienced the problem at some point in the past.

Personal incomes have been squeezed since the onset of the credit crunch, due to rising unemployment and tough lending criteria from banks.

In turn, this has made it more difficult for many to meet their essential costs, including mortgage paynents and rent.

Commenting on the figures, EuroDebt director Kevin Still said: "Rent and mortgage payments should be a priority for people in financial difficulty. Tenants may feel pressure to pay unsecured creditors, like your credit card or retail store card, ahead of your landlord, council tax or utilities.

"EuroDebt assists clients prioritise their expenditure and helps Residential Letting Agents and landlords establish affordable repayment plans for rent arrears. Over one in five tenants starting a Debt Management Plan with EuroDebt have rent arrears."

David Salusbury, NLA chairman, added: "Unfortunately we aren't out the woods with the economy just yet, and thanks to redundancy and unemployment some tenants are struggling to pay their rent."

Latest official figures show that unemployment has hit a 14-year high of almost 2.5 million people.

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Credit Card Lifestyle, Recent Graduate Debt,

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