Landlords call for clarity over rent payment holidays

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) is concerned many tenants are under the impression they no longer have to pay rent because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now it is calling for a the government to make a clear statement to tenants reminding them they must still meet their legal and contractual obligations – including paying rent – where they can.

Under emergency measures issued by the government just after the Covid-19 outbreak hit the UK, it was announced tenants who were struggling to pay their rent due coronavirus could speak to their landlord about making a payment holiday for up to three months.

Landlords in this situation would be able to take a mortgage holiday. At the end of the period landlords and tenants would be expected to work together to find an affordable repayment plan.

But the NRLA said some tenants believed, because lenders had provided the option of a three-month mortgage payment holiday to landlords, they should not pay rent for this period.

It said groups including the National Union of Students were campaigning for rent breaks for tenants.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said the mortgage repayment holiday was only available for landlords who were struggling to make their payments because their tenants are unable to pay part or all their rent as a result of coronavirus and through no fault of their own.

“It is not an automatic payment holiday,” he said, “and landlords who successfully apply still have to make these payments later on. It is not a grant.”

Genuine difficulty

Beadle explained where tenants who were having ‘genuine difficulty’ in meeting their rent payment because of a loss of income, the ‘repayment holiday’ allowed the landlord more flexibility to agree a mutually acceptable plan with the tenant to defer the rent due.

He added: “This is not a green light to tenants everywhere to stop paying their rent.”

Housing supply crisis

According to the NRLA, 94% of private landlords rent properties out as individuals and 39% had reported a gross non-rental income of less than £20,000.

It said, as such, many depended on the extra rental income for their livelihood.

Without this money, the NRLA said, many would be unable to continue letting property, which would lead to a housing supply crisis when the epidemic eased, this might impact students returning to university.