Rent arrears: a landlord's step-by-step guide

Rent arrears are unpaid rent: rent that has fallen due under the tenancy and hasn't been paid. In England, the steady route is to contact the tenant at the first missed payment, follow up in writing, agree a realistic payment plan if you can, and check Universal Credit and guarantor options. If the arrears keep growing, you serve a Section 8 notice on Grounds 8, 10 and 11 and, if the tenant doesn't pay or leave, go to court. You can recover the money through the courts even after the tenant has gone.

This guide covers private landlords in England. Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law.

What to do about rent arrears, from the first missed payment

The timings below are a sensible rhythm, not legal deadlines. The legal steps are marked.

1. Check the payment really is missing. Look at your bank account, the standing order date and, if the tenant gets Universal Credit, when their payment is due.
2. Talk to the tenant. A call or message in the first few days often tells you whether this is a one-off or the start of a problem. Note what they say.
3. Put it in writing. Send a polite rent arrears letter setting out what is owed and asking them to get in touch.
4. Start a rent schedule. Record each date rent was due, each payment and the running balance. You will need this for any court claim.
5. Offer a payment plan if the tenant can pay something. Keep it interest-free, with no charges, and no more than 12 instalments within 12 months. See rent arrears payment plans.
6. Check benefits. If the tenant gets Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, GOV.UK points landlords to managed payments, where the housing payment goes to you. See Universal Credit and rent arrears.
7. Check whether there is a guarantor and what the guarantee covers. See claiming rent arrears from a guarantor.
8. Watch for a Breathing Space. If you're told the tenant has entered one, stop contacting them about the debt. See Breathing Space and rent arrears.
9. Legal step: serve a Section 8 notice on Form 3A, usually on Grounds 8, 10 and 11, with 4 weeks' notice.
10. Legal step: start a possession claim once the notice expires, claiming the arrears at the same time. See possession claims.

For a day-by-day version of the first weeks, read tenant not paying rent.

How much rent arrears do you need to evict?

There are three rent arrears grounds. Each needs 4 weeks' notice.

Ground	Type	What must be true
Ground 8: serious arrears	Mandatory	At least 3 months' rent unpaid (monthly rent) or 13 weeks' rent (weekly or fortnightly), both when you serve the notice and at the hearing
Ground 10: some arrears	Discretionary	Some rent unpaid when you start the claim, and in arrears when you served the notice. No minimum
Ground 11: persistent delay	Discretionary	The tenant has persistently paid late, even if nothing is owed when you start the claim

On Ground 8, the court must make the order if the ground is proved. On Grounds 10 and 11, the judge must also think it reasonable. Landlords usually use all three together, so the claim can go ahead on Grounds 10 and 11 if the arrears drop below the Ground 8 threshold before the hearing.

What the Ground 8 threshold looks like:

Rent	Threshold
£1,200 a month	£3,600
£250 a week	£3,250 (13 × £250)
£500 a fortnight	£3,250 (6.5 fortnights)

Two rules can lower the countable figure. Amounts unpaid only because the tenant hadn't yet received a Universal Credit housing payment are ignored for Ground 8. And rent only counts if it is "lawfully due": it is treated as not due until you've given the tenant an address in England and Wales for notices. Check your figures with the rent arrears calculator.

Ground 8 has no threshold for rent paid every 4 weeks or on other cycles. In that case, use Grounds 10 and 11 and get advice from a solicitor.

Checks before you serve a notice

• Deposit. If you took a deposit, the court can only make a possession order if it is protected in an authorised scheme and you gave the prescribed information, or you've returned it. See deposit protection.
• Address for service. Make sure you have given the tenant an address in England and Wales for notices.
• Rent increases. Arrears from a rent increase that wasn't made lawfully may not count.
• The right form. Since 1 May 2026, private landlords must use Form 3A, with the full legal wording of each ground.
• Every joint tenant named on the notice.
• No Breathing Space in place. A notice on Grounds 8, 10 or 11 served during one is void.
• Timing. You can go to court from the day after the notice period ends, and must do so within 12 months of serving it.

For the notice itself, see Section 8 notice for rent arrears.

Rules that protect tenants in arrears

• Breathing Space. While a debt respite moratorium covers the arrears, you must not contact the tenant about the debt, take recovery action, add interest, fees or charges, serve a notice on Grounds 8, 10 or 11, or start an arrears claim, without the court's permission. Ongoing rent is still payable.
• Universal Credit delays. As above, delay-only amounts are ignored for Ground 8.
• Reasonableness. On Grounds 10 and 11 the judge weighs the cause of the arrears, the tenant's offers to pay and your own conduct, among other things.
• No self-help. Changing the locks or removing a tenant without court bailiffs is illegal eviction. Councils can impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000.

Recovering the money

Situation	Main route	Guide
Tenant still in the property	Add the arrears to your possession claim (no extra court fee)	Claiming rent arrears in court
Tenant has left, deposit held	Deductions through your deposit scheme	Using the deposit
There is a guarantor	A money claim on the guarantee	Guarantors
Tenant has left, money still owed	A letter before claim, then a money claim	Money Claim Online
You have a judgment that isn't paid	Enforcement, such as an attachment of earnings order	CCJs for unpaid rent

The decision guide for former tenants is recovering rent arrears after the tenant has left.

How long it takes and what it costs

• Notice: 4 weeks for Grounds 8, 10 and 11.
• Court: for private landlords' standard claims in April to June 2026, the median from claim to repossession was 24.6 weeks (Ministry of Justice, provisional; most of those claims rested on notices served before 1 May 2026). A Ground 8 case comes to about 7 months from notice to eviction at the median, on our estimate.
• Court fees from 13 July 2026: £415 for the possession claim (the arrears claim is included), £152 for a warrant of possession. A separate money claim costs between £35 and 5% of the claim for claims up to £200,000, depending on the amount.

See the possession claim timeline and court fees for detail.

Guides in this section

Each guide covers one part of the process in more depth:

• Early stages: tenant not paying rent for the first weeks, and agreeing a rent arrears payment plan for the limits that keep a plan simple.
• Benefits and debt advice: Universal Credit and rent arrears for managed payments and the Ground 8 rule, and Breathing Space and rent arrears for what you must pause.
• Getting the money back: using the deposit, claiming from a guarantor, Money Claim Online and getting a CCJ for unpaid rent.
• Templates: the rent arrears letter, the payment plan agreement and the letter before claim.

Keep one rent schedule from the first missed payment and add to it every time money comes in or rent falls due. The same record supports the letter, the payment plan, the Section 8 notice, the court claim and any later money claim, so you never have to rebuild the figures from memory.

What to do next

If the arrears are building and talking hasn't worked, prepare a Section 8 notice: we work out the dates for Grounds 8, 10 and 11, fill in Form 3A with the full ground wording and give you a certificate of service. Start with the rent arrears calculator to see where you stand, and read evicting a tenant for rent arrears for the whole route.