As a landlord having rent arrears can  be the most feared element of renting your property out. With a tenant living in the property rent free you have bills to pay and the courts are jammedwith cases meaning it takes longer  and longer to get tenants out. We have to deal with increasing legislation that can stall or stop an eviction and make the whole scenario a nightmare, so what are the basics for staying on top of all you need to know and avoid a worse case scenario?

On average in the UK around 10% of tenancies are in arrears at any one time,  so if you have been a landlord for any reasonable period of time you will have experienced a non-paying tenant and really understand how painful this whole episode can be.

At our agency we are proud to consistently maintain less than a 2% arrears percentage which is a very low figure, especially considering we also handle many HMO and LHA tenancies. We really do focus on this area as we feel it's the main focus for any landlord; getting their rent on time. So here are a few things we find help keep rent arrears low.