Short answer
Act in the first week, not the first month. Most arrears are resolved by early contact; the ones that are not need the correct notice served correctly, which is where landlords most often lose months of rent.
Arrears are the risk every landlord thinks about and few plan for. The single biggest factor in how much a case ends up costing is how quickly it is picked up.
A missed payment noticed on day two and asked about on day three is usually a bank error, a changed payday or a genuine short-term problem, and is usually fixed inside a week. The same case picked up six weeks later is a very different conversation.
The first week
Make contact by phone rather than email, and ask what has happened rather than demanding payment. You are trying to establish which of two situations you are in: a temporary problem with a tenant who intends to pay, or a tenant who cannot or will not.
If it is the former (and it usually is), a short written payment plan, agreed and dated, resolves most cases without anything formal.
If it continues
Keep every communication in writing from this point, and keep the rent account accurate to the day. If the case ever reaches a court, the quality of that record is what your position rests on.
Where a guarantor was taken at the outset, this is the point at which they are contacted. It is also the point at which any rent protection policy needs to be notified. Most have strict deadlines, and missing one voids the claim.
Formal steps
Recovering possession for rent arrears means serving the correct statutory notice, on the correct form, with the correct notice period, at a point where the arrears meet the required threshold. Any error means starting again, and the delay is measured in months of unpaid rent.
The specific grounds, thresholds and notice periods have changed with recent legislation and are the part of this guide most likely to be out of date, so take current advice rather than relying on what applied at your last tenancy.
What reduces the risk in the first place
Referencing that actually verifies income rather than collecting a payslip. A guarantor where affordability is marginal. A rent set at a level the tenant can sustain rather than the highest figure someone will agree to on the day.
The last of those is worth dwelling on. An over-ambitious rent does not produce more income; it produces a tenant who is stretched from month one, and arrears are far more common at the top of what someone can afford.
Where we come in
On Rent Collection we chase late rent and tell you early. On Full Management we pursue arrears formally, advise you on the position and serve the notices.
Either way you find out in week one rather than month two, which is the part that actually determines the outcome.
This guide is general information about letting property in England, not legal advice, and lettings legislation changes regularly. Take current advice on your own circumstances before acting, or call us and we will point you in the right direction.