Private renting
Rent arrears
If you miss your rent payments or are late paying rent, you’re in rent arrears.
Your landlord can evict you if you’re in rent arrears. This means you could lose your home.
How much notice your landlord has to give you that you’re being evicted for rent arrears depends on the type of tenancy you have.
There are different rules for:
- assured shorthold tenancies
- assured periodic tenancies after 1 May 2026
- excluded tenancies or licences
- assured and regulated tenancies
From 1 May 2026 assured shorthold tenancies will automatically become assured periodic tenancies.
If you have an assured shorthold tenancy
Your landlord has to give you 2 weeks’ notice if both of the following apply:
- you’re in rent arrears or often in rent arrears
- you have an assured shorthold tenancy or an assured tenancy
They need to use a ‘section 8’ notice.
If you do not leave the property by the end of the notice period, your landlord can apply to the court to evict you.
Your landlord can also evict you without giving a reason, whether you’re in rent arrears or not.
They need to use a ‘section 21’ notice.
From 1 May 2026 landlords will not be able to use a section 21 notice to evict you. They’ll need to use a section 8 notice instead.
Your landlord will need to give you at least 2 months to move out before they can apply to take you to court.
If your landlord issues you a section 8 and a section 21 notice and they have different eviction dates, you could be taken to court if you do not move out by whichever date is soonest.
If your landlord takes you to court to evict you
If they’re evicting you with a section 8 notice, they need to prove to the court that you’re in arrears.
The court will approve the eviction if your rent is:
- 2 months late if you pay monthly
- 8 weeks late if you pay weekly
If your rent is not that late, the court will consider whether eviction would be ‘reasonable and proportionate’ when making a decision.
The court can decide not to approve the eviction, but set conditions you have to meet to stay in your home. For example:
- paying your landlord the rent you owe by a certain date
- paying an amount regularly to clear the arrears
- not falling into rent arrears again
If you have an assured periodic tenancy after 1 May 2026
From 1 May 2026, all assured shorthold tenancies automatically become assured periodic tenancies.
Your landlord has to give you 4 weeks’ notice to move out if you are in rent arrears or frequently in rent arrears.
They need to use a ‘section 8 notice’.
If you do not leave the property by the end of the notice period, your landlord can apply to the court to evict you.
If your landlord takes you to court to evict you
If they’re evicting you with a section 8 notice, they need to prove to the court that you’re in arrears.
The court will approve the eviction if your rent is:
- 3 months late if you pay monthly
- 13 weeks late if you pay weekly or fortnightly
If your rent is not that late, the court will consider whether eviction would be ‘reasonable and proportionate’ when making a decision.
The court can decide not to approve the eviction, but set conditions you have to meet to stay in your home. For example:
- paying your landlord the rent you owe by a certain date
- paying an amount regularly to clear the arrears
- not falling into rent arrears again
If you have a regulated tenancy or excluded tenancy or licence
There are different rules on when your landlord can evict you or take you to court.
Help if you cannot afford rent
You can speak to a debt advisor for help handling your rent arrears.
You can also:
Depending on your situation, you may be able to:
-
get help with rent and other housing expenses - for example, Universal Credit
-
get free legal advice from Civil Legal Advice (CLA)
-
get help from your council if you’re at risk of homelessness
If you get Universal Credit or Housing Benefit
You can apply for a discretionary housing payment to help with your rent.
If you get Universal Credit and you’re at least 2 months late on rent, you or your landlord can ask for your rent to be paid straight to your landlord. This is called an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA).
If your landlord takes you to court to evict you
If you owe at least 3 months’ worth of rent (meaning you’re in more than 3 months’ arrears), the court may ignore them. They can only do this if both:
- you have been assessed as entitled to a universal credit element for housing
- you have not received what you were supposed to get
They may decide whether it is reasonable to evict you if you have other arrears. They will consider things like how often you are in arrears and how far behind you are.