Is it a bit much...?

ShriekingSheet · 15-01-2014 10:11am #1

...that after 8 months of residence in a rented house, with zero issues or missed payments, that we get threatened with eviction over the Jan payment being 3 weeks late?

Honestly, I'm looking to be set straight if I am wrong in expecting more leniency, but I was just very shocked when the agent mentioned eviction.

On the phone call I told him the situation, completely apologised and then a gave solution. What surprised and annoyed me was that the call went on far beyond that, into a lecture / threatening kind of tone.

I can only assume they're legally able to kick us out, even though its a minor offence.

Is this not all a bit much though?

ted1 · 15-01-2014 10:23am

missing rent is not a minor offence.

The fact you think its only a minor offence stinks, and indicates your poor attitude.

no its not a bit much.

and then a gave solution

I hope the solution was the immediate payment of rent.

omega666 · 15-01-2014 10:26am

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

...that after 8 months of residence in a rented house, with zero issues or missed payments, that we get threatened with eviction over the Jan payment being 3 weeks late?

Honestly, I'm looking to be set straight if I am wrong in expecting more leniency, but I was just very shocked when the agent mentioned eviction.

On the phone call I told him the situation, completely apologised and then a gave solution. What surprised and annoyed me was that the call went on far beyond that, into a lecture / threatening kind of tone.

I can only assume they're legally able to kick us out, even though its a minor offence.

Is this not all a bit much though?

Without knowing the in and out's for the late payment I don't think it's a bit much. I doubt they will kick you out but are just laying down a warning to make sure it dosent happen again.

You agreed to and are expected to pay the rent in full and on time every month. If your employer held back your wages for 3 weeks how would you react.

djimi · 15-01-2014 10:48am

Legally if you miss a payment then the landlord can issue a verbal warning, then a written 14 day notice of arrears, and if the arrears are not cleared in the 14 days then they can issue a 28 day notice of termination.

3 weeks late is not a minor issue. A day or two might be excusable if there is a genuine reason (banking issue etc), but there is no way you can let arrears go that long and not expect there to be repercussions.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 11:02am

no its not a bit much. Rent is due when its due.

Wow you paid on time for 8 months what do you expect a pat on the back ? LL is within their rights to start eviction proceedings if rent is late and he/she should do so.

Your completely wrong to be expecting leniency. Do you think his bank will be lenient oh him missing a mortgage payment because of you ?

As for giving him a solution unless that solution is to clear all outstanding rent within the 14 days provided in a letter of arrears then its not a solution and you should expect to get a letter of eviction (quite rightly too)

your financial problems are not his. If your short rent borrow it off a friend or family member. You LL is not a personal overdraft facility for you.

gaius c · 15-01-2014 11:07am

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

...that after 8 months of residence in a rented house, with zero issues or missed payments, that we get threatened with eviction over the Jan payment being 3 weeks late?

Honestly, I'm looking to be set straight if I am wrong in expecting more leniency, but I was just very shocked when the agent mentioned eviction.

On the phone call I told him the situation, completely apologised and then a gave solution. What surprised and annoyed me was that the call went on far beyond that, into a lecture / threatening kind of tone.

I can only assume they're legally able to kick us out, even though its a minor offence.

Is this not all a bit much though?

I had rent arrive a day late because the rent due date was on a bank holiday and the standing order didn't go through until the following date. Landlord was on the phone pretty snappish.

3 weeks late is completely unreasonable, especially if they had to contact you to find out why it was late.

Shedzafew · 15-01-2014 11:16am

No, this is not a bit much. You didn't pay your rent when it was due. You waited 3 weeks until they came looking for it to offer a "reasonable explanation". You will not be able to make the LL out to be unreasonable in this instance as it is 100% on you.

witchgirl26 · 15-01-2014 11:29am

To be honest, I think your landlord has been quite nice in letting it go for 3 weeks. I've been late a couple of times with rent just due to bank transfers not going through etc. I think a day or so is ok as can happen the best of us but 3 weeks is a bit much. If you knew you were going to be late, then maybe discussing it with the landlord first & letting them know the situation would have worked but you can hardly blame them for their concern now.

Eldarion · 15-01-2014 11:34am

D3PO wrote: »

Your completely wrong to be expecting leniency. Do you think his bank will be lenient oh him missing a mortgage payment because of you ?

Just playing devil's advocate here but it really is hilarious how lenient the banks are for missed mortgage payments. There's tens of thousands of people missing their mortgage payments, some for YEARS and repos are not even on the cards.

Just goes to show the difference between renting and buying. 3 weeks of missed rent is an outrageous scandal based on the vitriol in this thread, but 3 years of missed mortgage payments? Eh, business as usual.

Btw, just to clarify I completely agree that 3 weeks late on rent is completely unacceptable, I just wish the same societal view was taken for mortgage repayments.

whippet · 15-01-2014 11:40am

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

On the phone call I told him the situation, completely apologised and then a gave solution. What surprised and annoyed me was that the call went on far beyond that, into a lecture / threatening kind of tone.

this is the bit that caught my eye .... my reading of this was that when the EA came looking for the already late rent; you only then decided to explain why you missed the rent and you decided to offer a 'solution' - when the only solution is to pay all due rent immediately ... and you seem put out that the EA didn't jump with joy and offer to bring you out for a pint!!

it's like hearing tenants boasting that they were a 'model' tenant as they paid their rent on time ... as if it was an option to pay rent. A tenant who pays rent on time is a compliant tenant .. nothing more and nothing less!!!

D3PO · 15-01-2014 11:42am

Eldarion wrote: »

Just playing devil's advocate here but it really is hilarious how lenient the banks are for missed mortgage payments. There's tens of thousands of people missing their mortgage payments, some for YEARS and repos are not even on the cards.

Just goes to show the difference between renting and buying. 3 weeks of missed rent is an outrageous scandal based on the vitriol in this thread, but 3 years of missed mortgage payments? Eh, business as usual.

Btw, just to clarify I completely agree that 3 weeks late on rent is completely unacceptable, I just wish the same societal view was taken for mortgage repayments.

Your actually completely wrong. Firstly a missed mortgage payment will draw interest and penalties so there is no leniency applied by the banks in that regard.

secondly the repo discussion its completely irrelevant here and its getting way off topic but evicting somebody who refuses to leave isn't a quick or straightforward process either.

lets not derail the thread and stick to the facts. OP shouldn't expect leniency.

Bepolite · 15-01-2014 11:42am

OP see it from the LL point of view. He/She has no idea you are going to pay, probably has a mortgage to pay themselves and is going to be stressed out about this. Give them the same slack you're expecting.

3 weeks is a bit much, it might have been different if you had made contact on day 1 and paid what you could. It doesn't sound as if you've done that.

EDIT: My spelling is pretty poor so I'm not picking just saying some of the spelling mistakes in this thread are pretty funny!

GreeBo · 15-01-2014 11:43am

Did you let them know in advance that it was going to be late?

Scortho · 15-01-2014 11:46am

witchgirl26 wrote: »

To be honest, I think your landlord has been quite nice in letting it go for 3 weeks. I've been late a couple of times with rent just due to bank transfers not going through etc. I think a day or so is ok as can happen the best of us but 3 weeks is a bit much. If you knew you were going to be late, then maybe discussing it with the landlord first & letting them know the situation would have worked but you can hardly blame them for their concern now.

Elephant in the room. Same rights should apply to both, proceedings should be initiated immediately when the payment is late, not a couple if years down the line

makeorbrake · 15-01-2014 11:48am

Eldarion wrote: »

Just playing devil's advocate here but it really is hilarious how lenient the banks are for missed mortgage payments. There's tens of thousands of people missing their mortgage payments, some for YEARS and repos are not even on the cards.

Just goes to show the difference between renting and buying. 3 weeks of missed rent is an outrageous scandal based on the vitriol in this thread, but 3 years of missed mortgage payments? Eh, business as usual.

I don't think the two things are directly comparable. Both the banks and the government have created a situation whereby missing mortgage payments is acceptable. A bit of a generalisation but they are both allowing that situation to arise and pass without action due to their own agendas. i.e. not wanting to repossess as they don't want to flood the market with property. If this sort of fudging wasnt going on (i.e. if this was handled normally - like in any other country), then missed mortgage payments on an ongoing basis definitely would NOT be tolerated.

Bepolite · 15-01-2014 11:49am

Scortho wrote: »

Elephant in the room.

Ah come on now... I only put on 2lb over Xmas and I'm down a stone and a half since the end of November.

witchgirl26 · 15-01-2014 11:51am

Scortho wrote: »

Elephant in the room. Same rights should apply to both, proceedings should be initiated immediately when the payment is late, not a couple if years down the line

Did you mean to quote Eldarion's post & not mine?

ShriekingSheet · 15-01-2014 12:12pm

Thanks for the replies - I had no idea it was such a big deal. Ive never been in this situation with rent over the years. Certainly have changed my perspective.

Santa Cruz · 15-01-2014 12:29pm

If you were aware that the rent was going to be late and did not inform the landlord I think he has a point in threatening you with eviction. Too many people here think that the landlords are just sitting back and watching the money roll in. It's a business the same as any other business. The landlord has outgoings which in many cases are paid from rent received. He may have direct debits and standing orders in place which use the funds received from rents to pay.
I have no doubt the tentant would be quick enough to start quoting the lease agreement terms

gaius c · 15-01-2014 12:58pm

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - I had no idea it was such a big deal. Ive never been in this situation with rent over the years. Certainly have changed my perspective.

Good stuff!

Scortho · 15-01-2014 12:59pm

witchgirl26 wrote: »

Did you mean to quote Eldarion's post & not mine?

Ah balls

murphaph · 15-01-2014 1:35pm

GreeBo wrote: »

Did you let them know in advance that it was going to be late?

Doesn't sound like it but it's irrelevant! As another poster said, the landlord is not a personal overdraft facility. If the OP needed short term credit they should arrange it with a bank or friends and family, not put it upon their landlord like that. It's taking liberties in the extreme.

djimi · 15-01-2014 1:37pm

murphaph wrote: »

Doesn't sound like it but it's irrelevant! As another poster said, the landlord is not a personal overdraft facility. If the OP needed short term credit they should arrange it with a bank or friends and family, not put it upon their landlord like that. It's taking liberties in the extreme.

No harm in making a phone call I guess. If the landlord says no then so be it, but not everyone is living on the bleeding edge financially, and for a good tenant may be willing to be flexible for a pre-warned emergency situation.

witchgirl26 · 15-01-2014 1:50pm

djimi wrote: »

No harm in making a phone call I guess. If the landlord says no then so be it, but not everyone is living on the bleeding edge financially, and for a good tenant may be willing to be flexible for a pre-warned emergency situation.

Exactly. I had to do it before - changed jobs & there was a slight issue with my first months pay. Rang the landlord & explained the situation - that my work said it'd be about a week between getting me the cheque & it clearing into my bank & that I'd transfer the rent straight away once I had that. It wasn't a big deal then as the landlord knew what was going on & that it was a one-off & why.

Ray Palmer · 15-01-2014 1:53pm

djimi wrote: »

No harm in making a phone call I guess. If the landlord says no then so be it, but not everyone is living on the bleeding edge financially, and for a good tenant may be willing to be flexible for a pre-warned emergency situation.

Emergency maybe, but straight after Christmas do you think it was an emergency or over spending?

A tenant after 8 months can't build up that much good will in my opinion.

murphaph · 15-01-2014 1:57pm

djimi wrote: »

No harm in making a phone call I guess. If the landlord says no then so be it, but not everyone is living on the bleeding edge financially, and for a good tenant may be willing to be flexible for a pre-warned emergency situation.

But you wouldn't be so cheeky as to ask Tesco to let you eat their food for 3 weeks before you paid them. It's a business relationship to be treated as such. To me a tenant who asks for a 3 week interest free loan is as bad as a landlord who waits 3 weeks to fix a broken heating system. Neither are acceptable in this business relationship. It should be professional, from both sides.

Some landlords might be a bit soft and feel pressured into agreeing an interest free loan, when they don't really want to. It's just not on asking someone who isn't either a bank or a very close friend or family for credit like that.

If your landlord asked you for a loan of a few hundred quid for 3 weeks how would you feel?

Mrs OBumble · 15-01-2014 2:07pm

Exactly. I had to do it before - changed jobs & there was a slight issue with my first months pay.

So what would you do if you got sick and couldn't work for 2-3 months?

You'd probably get welfare, but that takes months to start paying.

What exactly would you eat or pay the rent with in the meantime?

NB it doesn't really matter who the above quote was from. I'm just railing against the fact that so many people seem to live from pay-cheque to pay-cheque, with no thought of having a emergency stash of cash to cover interruptions to the pay cheques. Pure daft, IMHO.

witchgirl26 · 15-01-2014 2:13pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So what would you do if you got sick and couldn't work for 2-3 months?

You'd probably get welfare, but that takes months to start paying.

What exactly would you eat or pay the rent with in the meantime?

NB it doesn't really matter who the above quote was from. I'm just railing against the fact that so many people seem to live from pay-cheque to pay-cheque, with no thought of having a emergency stash of cash to cover interruptions to the pay cheques. Pure daft, IMHO.

I would talk to the landlord in that situation about re-assigning the lease if it came to it. The reason I talked to them in the first place about the week was because I had been living off emergency cash I had saved as there was a gap in my employment (start date in new job was a while after finishing in previous job). I didn't have the full amount to cover the rent without the first months pay.

I don't agree with living pay-cheque to pay-cheque either but sometimes things happen. The point I was making was that if you know you'll be late with the rent, talk to the landlord first and then try to arrange something like a family loan if it's going to be longer than a few days. Don't sit there & wait till the landlord contacts you cause there's no rent.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 2:13pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

NB it doesn't really matter who the above quote was from. I'm just railing against the fact that so many people seem to live from pay-cheque to pay-cheque, with no thought of having a emergency stash of cash to cover interruptions to the pay cheques. Pure daft, IMHO.

I agree with you but I also recognise that many people have no option but to leave pay cheque to pay cheque

Big Davey · 15-01-2014 2:16pm

Personally if you have a good reason your landlord is being unfair in my opinion just try to talk it out with them. Also remind your landlord "eviction" is not as easy as he might think ! Contact the PRTB or threshold for advice.

Big Davey · 15-01-2014 2:21pm

Ps: my overstaying tenant owes me almost 4k and I have a PRTB case coming up so maybe I am not the best person to get advice of lol
A neighbour nearby has been stung for almost 10k in rent as a family stopped paying, refused to move out and just lived there rent free for 10 months the PRTB are a total joke also.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 2:22pm

Big Davey wrote: »

Personally if you have a good reason your landlord is being unfair in my opinion .

There is no such thing as a good reason not to pay your rent on time, and to leave it three weeks to explain to the LL why only after he calls you.

No excuses for late rent are ever acceptable, your perception is completely and utterly skewed.

if your payroll department told you your wages would be three weeks later but they had a "good reason" would that be acceptable ? No why would you think rent would be any different

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:23pm

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Emergency maybe, but straight after Christmas do you think it was an emergency or over spending?

A tenant after 8 months can't build up that much good will in my opinion.

Not my call to make why they were late with the; the OP doesnt say why they were late and we would only be speculating if we were to guess.

Again how much goodwill they have built up is up to the landlord to decide; its not our call to make.

ShaShaBear · 15-01-2014 2:24pm

D3PO wrote: »

I agree with you but I also recognise that many people have no option but to leave pay cheque to pay cheque

Have to agree here, there is a ludacris underlying assumption that people in question earn enough money to have some left over to save for an emergency. Myself and my partner live week-to-week because I am a full-time student and he gets a pretty okay wage, most of which goes on rent and bills. After all necessities are purchased/paid for, we're lucky to have enough left over to cover his petrol expenses for work and buy more milk and bread mid-week.

On a side note, if you know the rent is going to be late, tell the landlord. If you think the rent is going to be late, tell the landlord. If you overspend, don't bother to tell the landlord and just pretend nothing happened... expect to get your verbal warning.

Big Davey · 15-01-2014 2:26pm

D3PO wrote: »

There is no such thing as a good reason not to pay your rent on time, and to leave it three weeks to explain to the LL why only after he calls you.

No excuses for late rent are ever acceptable, your perception is completely and utterly skewed.

You are probably right BUT if the Tenant fell behind and was going to catch up with their rent maybe something could be worked out ? The other scenario is if the Tenant just stops paying it could take 12 months to get them out. You are right in the way things "should" work but in real life it's better to try to work things out on a personal level "most" people renting are ok in my opinion.

Big Davey · 15-01-2014 2:29pm

Verbal warning lol big deal !
14 day notice letter big deal !
Evection notice big deal !
The law is 100% on the side of the Tenant, PRTB is a joke. Landlords are the most vulnerable people in society at the moment.

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Have to agree here, there is a ludacris underlying assumption that people in question earn enough money to have some left over to save for an emergency. Myself and my partner live week-to-week because I am a full-time student and he gets a pretty okay wage, most of which goes on rent and bills. After all necessities are purchased/paid for, we're lucky to have enough left over to cover his petrol expenses for work and buy more milk and bread mid-week.

On a side note, if you know the rent is going to be late, tell the landlord. If you think the rent is going to be late, tell the landlord. If you overspend, don't bother to tell the landlord and just pretend nothing happened... expect to get your verbal warning.

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:30pm

murphaph wrote: »

But you wouldn't be so cheeky as to ask Tesco to let you eat their food for 3 weeks before you paid them. It's a business relationship to be treated as such. To me a tenant who asks for a 3 week interest free loan is as bad as a landlord who waits 3 weeks to fix a broken heating system. Neither are acceptable in this business relationship. It should be professional, from both sides.

Some landlords might be a bit soft and feel pressured into agreeing an interest free loan, when they don't really want to. It's just not on asking someone who isn't either a bank or a very close friend or family for credit like that.

If your landlord asked you for a loan of a few hundred quid for 3 weeks how would you feel?

Its not Tescos we are talking about, its an ongoing long term agreement.

Look, you can start talking about interest free loans or whatever if you like; end of the day its up to the landlord how they want to approach it. If there is a good landlord tenant relationship then I really dont see the harm in ringing in advance and saying that there may be an issue, and seeing if there is any room for flexibility with the rent. Worst that the landlord can say is no.

If the landlord feels pressurized by this then thats really their own problem. Its not an unreasonable conversation to have if youre in trouble for whatever reason (provided its a once off and not happening every month), and as a landlord if its something that you have a problem with then you need to learn to toughen up and say no if you dont want to/cant agree to it.

ShaShaBear · 15-01-2014 2:32pm

Big Davey wrote: »

Verbal warning lol big deal !
14 day notice letter big deal !
Evection notice big deal !
The law is 100% on the side of the Tenant, PRTB is a joke. Landlords are the most vulnerable people in society at the moment.

Some tenants, like myself, would take a notice of eviction very seriously. It is nothing to be laughed at.
Since I am not entitled to my deposit back for termination of a fixed lease due to no heating supplied to the house as part of the landlord's contracted obligations, I wouldn't say anyone is on my side. I wouldn't say my landlord is being victimised either.

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:35pm

D3PO wrote: »

There is no such thing as a good reason not to pay your rent on time, and to leave it three weeks to explain to the LL why only after he calls you.

No excuses for late rent are ever acceptable, your perception is completely and utterly skewed.

if your payroll department told you your wages would be three weeks later but they had a "good reason" would that be acceptable ? No why would you think rent would be any different

Everyone can find themselves in financial difficulties. Its not ideal, but its how they handle them is the issue, not that they exist. Could be any number of genuine emergency reasons why someone might struggle with the rent for a month. I dont think that its unreasonable to be upfront with the landlord and explain the situation if its arises. Im sure most reasonable people would not have a problem working with someone who is in genuine trouble to help them find a solution rather than just saying tough ****, its not my problem, find the money however.

I agree that in this case the OP should not have left it three weeks before addressing the issue; thats obviously just a bad way of handling the situation.

As for the wages; its happened to most of us Im sure at some point. Nobody likes being in that situation, but these things happen from time to time.

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:39pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

NB it doesn't really matter who the above quote was from. I'm just railing against the fact that so many people seem to live from pay-cheque to pay-cheque, with no thought of having a emergency stash of cash to cover interruptions to the pay cheques. Pure daft, IMHO.

Get off your high horse ffs. Not everyone is lucky enough to financially comfortable enough to be able to build up emergency savings. I doubt many like living from month to month, but if you think that the majority of people are in such a situation by choice then you really need to cop onto yourself.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 2:39pm

Big Davey wrote: »

You are probably right BUT if the Tenant fell behind and was going to catch up with their rent maybe something could be worked out ? The other scenario is if the Tenant just stops paying it could take 12 months to get them out. You are right in the way things "should" work but in real life it's better to try to work things out on a personal level "most" people renting are ok in my opinion.

I'm not saying something couldn't be worked out. Look most people are reasonable if something happened and could be remedied with a little co operation as a LL you would have to genuinely consider the situation based on your history with the tenant and make the right decision based on yours and the tenants situation.

However don't confuse working out something as the LL finding the situation to be acceptable they are two totally separate things.

Personally speaking I wouldn't be ameniable to working something out with a tenant that's in only 8 months, is 3 weeks later with rent and didn't even bother their arse contacting me until I chased them, and Im not the only one that would have that opinion either.

as for getting them out. If somebody is going to hang in for 12 months without paying rent as you get an eviction processed the facts are they were always planning to do that anyway. Somebody that takes that approach is a scumbag and quite frankly would never had intended paying their rent anyway sop working out a way to resolve the issue would only delay the inevitable.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 2:43pm

djimi wrote: »

Everyone can find themselves in financial difficulties. Its not ideal, but its how they handle them is the issue, not that they exist. Could be any number of genuine emergency reasons why someone might struggle with the rent for a month. I dont think that its unreasonable to be upfront with the landlord and explain the situation if its arises. Im sure most reasonable people would not have a problem working with someone who is in genuine trouble to help them find a solution rather than just saying tough ****, its not my problem, find the money however.

.

I don't disagree with you. However tenants seem to have a mentality that the LL should be ameniable to working with them if they have an emergency like its the LL's burden.

The mentality is all wrong, you see threads like this on here all the time. I never recall once seeing a thread from a tenant saying they had hit a financial hurdle couldn't afford their rent and managed to sort it by getting a friend or family to help sort them out. They all seem to think its the LL's problem and something they have to be reasonable with, which it is not.

murphaph · 15-01-2014 2:44pm

djimi wrote: »

Its not Tescos we are talking about, its an ongoing long term agreement.

Look, you can start talking about interest free loans or whatever if you like; end of the day its up to the landlord how they want to approach it. If there is a good landlord tenant relationship then I really dont see the harm in ringing in advance and saying that there may be an issue, and seeing if there is any room for flexibility with the rent. Worst that the landlord can say is no.

If the landlord feels pressurized by this then thats really their own problem. Its not an unreasonable conversation to have if youre in trouble for whatever reason (provided its a once off and not happening every month), and as a landlord if its something that you have a problem with then you need to learn to toughen up and say no if you dont want to/cant agree to it.

How would you react if your LL called you up and asked you to pay the rent 3 weeks ahead of its due date because he was having a bit of a cash flow problem?

witchgirl26 · 15-01-2014 2:47pm

murphaph wrote: »

How would you react if your LL called you up and asked you to pay the rent 3 weeks ahead of its due date because he was having a bit of a cash flow problem?

Personally, I'd say no. But then I also think it's a bit much for a tennant to ask for 3 weeks grace. If it was a week, I'd be fine with it. I always have the rent set aside so doesn't matter to me when in the month in goes for the most part.

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:47pm

murphaph wrote: »

How would you react if your LL called you up and asked you to pay the rent 3 weeks ahead of its due date because he was having a bit of a cash flow problem?

Honestly, if I could accomodate them I would. And Im not just saying that. Im going be paying them the money either way, so what harm in paying early if I have it?

Just like in this situation, if you are happy that it is just a one off financial blip for a tenant that you trust to sort you out, and if funds are not tight and you are not relying on the rent this very minute, then whats the harm? Its not going to suit everyone and not everyone will trust their tenants enough to agree to it, but I dont think that the tenant asking the question at least is the evil that some people are making it out to be.

djimi · 15-01-2014 2:51pm

D3PO wrote: »

I don't disagree with you. However tenants seem to have a mentality that the LL should be ameniable to working with them if they have an emergency like its the LL's burden.

The mentality is all wrong, you see threads like this on here all the time. I never recall once seeing a thread from a tenant saying they had hit a financial hurdle couldn't afford their rent and managed to sort it by getting a friend or family to help sort them out. They all seem to think its the LL's problem and something they have to be reasonable with, which it is not.

To be honest, most reasonable decent people will not think that its okay to burden a landlord with this or that it should be the landlords problem. I certainly wouldnt. However, if I found myself in such a situation, I would still go to the landlord first to see if something could be worked out. Id prefer to be honest from the start at least. We dont all have families and friends who can hand us over the guts of a grand at a moments notice, and if youre in financial trouble such that you cant pay your rent then chances are getting a loan might not be that straightforward.

murphaph · 15-01-2014 2:54pm

djimi wrote: »

Honestly, if I could accomodate them I would. And Im not just saying that. Im going be paying them the money either way, so what harm in paying early if I have it?

Just like in this situation, if you are happy that it is just a one off financial blip for a tenant that you trust to sort you out, and if funds are not tight and you are not relying on the rent this very minute, then whats the harm? Its not going to suit everyone and not everyone will trust their tenants enough to agree to it, but I dont think that the tenant asking the question at least is the evil that some people are making it out to be.

I read the OP's response and agree that he/she does not mean harm to the LL and was genuinely unaware that not paying rent on time is a big no-no. They now accept that it is, which is a mature response to the thread and I expect they won't make the same mistake again.

For the record I have accommodated a tenant in similar circumstances but like D3PO I don't see it as acceptable behaviour. I accommodated them purely because it was the only pragmatic thing to do at the time.

D3PO · 15-01-2014 2:56pm

again I don't disagree with you per se.

Personally Id at the very least try the credit union for a short term loan / bank for an overdraft before having a chat with the LL to work out a solution. I think at the very least trying to look at other avenues to exhaust before contacting the landlord would be courteous.

Ray Palmer · 15-01-2014 3:12pm

djimi wrote: »

Not my call to make why they were late with the; the OP doesnt say why they were late and we would only be speculating if we were to guess.

Again how much goodwill they have built up is up to the landlord to decide; its not our call to make.

I love they way you speculated it was an emergency but want to shut down any other speculation.

Given the time of year it is very likely it was due to having spent money over Christmas. It is speculative but much more believable than an emergency.

While people are saying some people have to live pay check to pay check there are also a lot of people who choose to live this ay and never save. Some people are simply bad with their finances. It isn't a LL job to assist or make allowances go look for an exceptional needs payment, pay day loan or friends and family. Your LL is not for credit and it is very immature thinking/behaviour to expect it.

djimi · 15-01-2014 3:42pm

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I love they way you speculated it was an emergency but want to shut down any other speculation.

I didn't speculate about anything. I made a general comment where I said I don't see the harm in asking where it's a pre-warned emergency. I didn't say that I thought that was the case here; I have no idea what happened with the OP because they chose not to tell us.

Mrs OBumble · 15-01-2014 5:46pm

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Have to agree here, there is a ludacris underlying assumption that people in question earn enough money to have some left over to save for an emergency. Myself and my partner live week-to-week because I am a full-time student and he gets a pretty okay wage, most of which goes on rent and bills. After all necessities are purchased/paid for, we're lucky to have enough left over to cover his petrol expenses for work and buy more milk and bread mid-week.

Sorry, but it's not ludicruous. What will you do if your partner gets sick for a week and cannot work? If the answer is not to pay the rent for that week - well you will never catch up.

I've supported myself + partner for six months on a salary of 19k. We didn't save much - but even at that level we did save. It's simply what responsible people do, so they don't come on here saying "Is it OTT that my LL starts proceedings when we're only three weeks late with the rent".

Is it a bit much...?

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