• Before Legal Action:

Before taking any legal action on your tenants, we always suggest speaking with your tenants and trying to understand why they may be paying late. It could be that they have found themselves in a difficult situation and a payment plan can be arranged to help them. Having a pleasant conversation with your tenants can make the whole tedious process a lot easier for both parties. If your tenants are uncooperative then please read below for our top tips.

• The right documents to hold onto:

Keep hold of the tenancy agreement stating rent payment amount, and a copy signed by tenants and landlords. It is important that you’re able to provide evidence that tenants signed into renting a property knowing the monthly rental cost. Make sure tenants have been emailed or mailed a copy as well at the start of the tenancy. Kronos Estate agents provide services to ensure all renewal documents are sent to both yourself and tenants.

• Have a guarantor in place for rent payment.

Before signing into a contract, if tenants show difficulty paying, ensure there is a guarantor in place to guarantee you still receive your rental income. Tenants should be able to provide a guarantor with an income high enough to support paying rent in instances where tenants may not. If the tenant has not paid rent, the guarantor should be contacted and asked for payment.

• Keep track of all payments received from tenants from the start of the tenancy.

Kronos Estate Agents use one of the newest technological software which allows us to keep track of every payment coming from the tenant. We also have a system that alerts us when rent payments are due and when they are in arrears. We act straight away by notifying tenants through SMS. More often than we think, it could just be a case of the tenants having forgotten to authorize the payment with their banks. If we have still not received the rent payment or have not been able to reach the tenants, we start sending emails and letters. Our software provides a service that allows us to keep track of every communication from the agent to the tenants.

• If by 21 days you have not received your rent payment, send the tenants a final letter of consideration. If this goes unanswered, explain your next intention to take legal action if the arrears rent is not paid. In cases where there is a guarantor in place, a letter will be sent to the guarantor informing that if the tenant doesn’t pay then they will be liable for the rent payment.
• If the rent is due monthly and the tenant goes into 2 months of arrear, then the day after the second month missed payment you can issue the notice

It is important that the notice is laid out in the correct form for it to be valid. Serving this notice informs your tenant that if a payment is not received within 14 days of the notice, they will be taken to court.
Kronos Estate Agents can provide guidance as to how this notice should be served. Get in touch today via email at info@kronosestates.co.uk or call us directly on 020 8004 4477.