Claiming rent arrears in your possession claim

You can claim rent arrears in court as part of your possession claim, without a separate money claim. Form N5 has a money-claim box, and section 10 of Form N119 lets you ask for the unpaid rent and use and occupation charges up to the order, ongoing charges until you get possession, and your costs. There is no extra fee on top of the £415 possession claim fee, and the judge can make a money order with or without a possession order.

How to claim rent arrears in court alongside possession

1. Serve a valid Section 8 notice on the arrears grounds, usually Grounds 8, 10 and 11, with 4 weeks' notice. See evicting a tenant for rent arrears.
2. Tick the money-claim box in N5 as well as "rent arrears" in section 3.1.
3. Complete N119 sections 3, 5, 7 and 10: the rent and daily rate, the steps you've taken, the tenant's circumstances, and the orders you want.
4. Attach a rent schedule covering the 2 years before issue.
5. Update the figures to the hearing date and bring the updated schedule.

If the claim is for rent arrears only, you can file it on paper or through Possession Claim Online, which allows possession, arrears, interest and costs. The fee is the same.

What the rent schedule must show

Practice Direction 55A sets out what the particulars must contain in an arrears claim:

• the amount due when the claim is issued;
• a schedule of all payments due and made in the 2 years before issue, or from the first missed payment if that was more recent, with a running total;
• the daily rate of rent and of any interest;
• previous steps taken to recover the arrears, including any court proceedings;
• the tenant's circumstances, in particular benefits and any direct payments to you.

Worked example: a rent schedule

Rent is £1,100 a month, due on the 1st. The Ground 8 threshold is 3 × £1,100 = £3,300.

Date due	Rent due	Date paid	Amount paid	Arrears
1 May 2026	£1,100	1 May 2026	£1,100	£0
1 June 2026	£1,100	5 June 2026	£500	£600
1 July 2026	£1,100	—	£0	£1,700
1 August 2026	£1,100	12 August 2026	£400	£2,400
1 September 2026	£1,100	—	£0	£3,500
1 October 2026	£1,100	—	£0	£4,600

The landlord serves Form 3A on Grounds 8, 10 and 11 on Monday 7 September 2026, when £3,500 is owed, above the threshold. Four weeks beginning with 7 September end on 4 October, so the earliest court date in the notice is 5 October 2026. The claim is issued on 12 October 2026 for £4,600. If nothing more is paid, the arrears will be £5,700 after the 1 November rent falls due, and that is the figure to show at a hearing in November (£6,800 if the hearing is after the 1 December rent falls due).

Check your own figures with the rent arrears calculator.

Watch out: only rent "lawfully due" counts. Rent is treated as not due until you've given the tenant an address in England and Wales for notices (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, s.48). For Ground 8, amounts unpaid only because a Universal Credit housing payment hadn't yet reached the tenant are ignored.

What you can ask the court for

N119 section 10 item	What it covers
Possession	The order to give the property back
Unpaid rent and use and occupation charges	Everything owed up to the date of the order
Ongoing charges	Charges from the order until you actually get possession, worked out from the daily rate
Costs	Including the court fee

GOV.UK says a judge can add a money order to any possession order: outright, suspended, or none at all. On discretionary grounds, if the court suspends or postpones the order, it must usually set conditions about paying the arrears and the rent. That suspended order is, in effect, a court-supervised payment plan.

Enforcing the money order

A money order is a judgment and can be enforced like any other:

• With the warrant of possession. You can include the money due in the same warrant at no extra fee (the warrant costs £152). You certify the balance and any unpaid instalments. A warrant of possession also allows execution against goods for the money.
• After the tenant has left. Use the enforcement methods for judgments, such as an attachment of earnings order (£139) or a warrant of control (£96). See getting a CCJ for unpaid rent.

If the tenant enters a debt respite Breathing Space, enforcement of the arrears must stop, and you can't add interest, fees or charges while it lasts. See Breathing Space and rent arrears.

Claiming from a guarantor

A guarantor is not usually a party to the possession claim. Recovery from a guarantor is normally a separate money claim on the guarantee. You cannot include a guarantor in a Possession Claim Online claim. If you want to join the guarantor to a paper possession claim, get advice from a solicitor first. See claiming rent arrears from a guarantor.

Mistakes that reduce what you recover

• Gaps in the schedule, or no running total.
• No daily rate, so ongoing charges can't be worked out.
• Counting charges that aren't rent under the tenancy agreement.
• Arrears from a previous tenancy or another tenant, which don't count.
• Not updating to the hearing date, so the order is for less than you're owed.
• Leaving section 10 blank, so no money order is asked for.

For the wider picture, go to the possession claim hub or the rent arrears guide.

What to do next

The possession court pack builds the 2-year rent schedule and fills in N5 and N119, including section 10, from your answers. You check them, sign them, pay the fee and file the claim yourself. If you haven't served a notice yet, start with the Section 8 notice.