Dealing with rent arrears

This content applies to Scotland only.

Housing laws vary between Scotland and England. This page applies to Scotland only. Get advice relating to England

It is important to act quickly if you have rent arrears, to prevent your arrears getting bigger and to avoid your landlord trying to evict you. This page tells you what to do.

Talk to your landlord

If you have rent arrears, don't ignore them! If you are behind with your rent, your landlord will have grounds to start legal proceedings for eviction. Contact your landlord to discuss how you will clear your arrears. Landlords are much more likely to be sympathetic if they know that you are trying to resolve the matter. If you prefer, an adviser at a Shelter advice centre or Citizens Advice can talk to your landlord for you. Use the Advice Services Directory to find help near you.

Make paying your rent top priority

Even if you have a lot of debts, it's important to make your rent your top priority.

Debts such as rent arrears (where you risk losing your home) are much more important than debts such as catalogue payments (where you risk losing your credit rating). Debts to utilities companies (where you risk disconnection) are somewhere in between.

If you are able to keep up with your current rent payments, you may be able to apply for a debt payment programme through the debt arrangement scheme, to pay back your arrears.

Bear in mind that if you have your current account, credit card and other accounts with the same bank, the bank is usually within its rights to transfer money from an account that's in credit to another account that's in debt. This is known as 'setting off' debt. Therefore it's a good idea to set up an account with another bank to keep your rent money in. This will prevent your bank from taking money from your account that you were setting aside to pay your rent and using it to pay off a non-priority debt such as a credit card.

You can find out more about setting off at the MoneySavingExpert website.

Work out your finances

Before you make an arrangement to pay back your arrears, it's important to work out how much you can afford. The National Debtline produces a self-help pack that you can use to record your income and expenditure and work out a budget. A specialist money adviser could help you do this too. You can find your nearest money adviser on the Money Advice Scotland website.

You should also arrange for a benefit check with a specialist adviser. Even if you're already claiming benefits, you may not be claiming everything you're entitled to. You can find an adviser using the Advice Services Directory.

Make an affordable arrangement

Once you have worked out your finances, talk to your landlord and see if you can arrange to pay back your arrears over a period of time. Don't promise to pay back more than you can afford - you're better off arranging to pay back your arrears in small instalments over a long period of time, than promising to pay them back in a few large instalments that you then can't meet.

Stick to the arrangement

It's very important that you stick to any repayment agreement you work out with your landlord. Again, make your rent and your repayments your top priority.

Get help to negotiate with your landlord

If you don't want to talk to your landlord yourself, or you are having difficulty agreeing on an affordable repayment arrangement, contact an adviser at Shelter, Citizens Advice or other advice agency. An adviser could talk to your landlord on your behalf. You will find contact details in the Advice Services Directory.