What should I do if my tenant stops paying rent?

The first two weeks

Speed matters more than firmness. Arrears that get cleared are usually the ones where somebody made contact while the sum was still one month rather than four.

1. Day one to three. Check the payment actually failed rather than being delayed or misreferenced. Then make contact, politely, by phone and in writing.
2. Find out why. A lost job, a benefit delay, a hospital stay and a deliberate non payment need completely different responses, and you cannot tell which you have without asking.
3. Offer a written payment plan if the cause is temporary and credible. Smaller regular catch up payments alongside the ongoing rent recover more money than a demand for the lot.
4. Point them at help. Where a benefit issue is the cause, direct payment of the housing element to the landlord is often possible, and local authority or advice service support can unlock it faster than you can.
5. Contact the guarantor if there is one, early, in writing.

What to record

Everything, contemporaneously, because a possession case is decided on evidence rather than on recollection.

• A rent ledger showing every sum due, every sum received and the running balance.
• Every contact attempt, dated, with what was said and agreed.
• Any payment plan, in writing, signed if possible.
• Copies of every notice or letter, and proof of how and when it was sent.

Also check your own compliance now rather than later. In England, a deposit protected late or prescribed information never served can block possession entirely, regardless of how much rent is owed. The same is true of missing gas safety records and the How to Rent guide. Arrears cases are frequently lost on the landlord's paperwork rather than on the tenant's debt.

Possession in England

Since 1 May 2026 there is no no fault route. Possession runs through statutory grounds, and serious rent arrears is one of them, with its own notice period and evidence requirements. The arrears must be proved and must meet the threshold in the ground being used, which is why the ledger matters so much.

Two practical points. Arrears that dip below the threshold before the hearing can undermine a claim, so the picture on the day matters, not only the peak. And local authority enforcement is active in some areas: Manchester City Council runs a Renter's Rights Resolution Team and penalises breaches up to seven thousand pounds for a first offence, so an unlawful shortcut is expensive as well as counterproductive.

Possession in Scotland

Scotland has had no no fault eviction since December 2017. On a private residential tenancy, rent arrears is one of the statutory eviction grounds, raised by serving a notice to leave with the correct period and then applying to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

The tribunal will expect to see that you engaged with the tenant, considered their circumstances and made reasonable attempts to resolve matters before applying. Pre action behaviour is part of what is assessed, so the payment plan you offered in month one is evidence in your favour later.

What not to do

• Change the locks. Unlawful eviction, a criminal offence.
• Disconnect utilities or remove services. Harassment, also criminal.
• Enter without notice to confront the tenant.
• Remove their belongings.
• Accept a payment in a way you have not recorded, then rely on a figure you cannot evidence.
• Let it run silently for months in the hope it resolves itself. It almost never does, and the debt becomes unrecoverable in practice long before it becomes legally unarguable.

What your agent should be doing

On a managed or rent collection service, arrears chasing is part of what you are paying for. Ask three questions when you instruct, and hold the agency to them.

Is the fee charged on rent due or rent received? On rent received, your agent is not paid when you are not paid, which aligns the incentive properly. At what point does chasing start, and who does it? And what was your arrears rate last year? Agencies that measure themselves answer that immediately, and the ones that change the subject are telling you something.

Rent guarantee insurance is a separate product from your landlord policy and usually requires the tenant to have passed specified referencing, which is another reason referencing quality matters more than it appears at the time.