May

‘If a tenant is facing hardship, increasing their burden with rent arrears will not help them or their landlord’

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Unusually candid lettings agent cuts through the arguments over rent waivers, arrears and evictions with a common sense approach to helping both his tenants and landlords. Would you be won over?

Meet the lettings agent who has adopted an unusual business strategy to
get his tenants and landlords through the crisis.

Boris Drappier, founder of online agency Rent Happily in Bristol, believes tenants don’t need to be burdened with rent arrears while landlords can still get their rent in the long run if they apply for a payment holiday.

One-third
of Rent Happily’s tenants
have seen their income dwindle and are struggling to pay rent, so Drappier has
been working with his landlords to cook up a solution, acting as a go-between
tenants, landlords and mortgage lenders.

Rent relief

Consequently,
some of his landlords have granted a blanket three-month rent relief, while
others have gone for a monthly renewable agreement.

He
adds that while they have the right to claim their rent arrears, given the
circumstances, they are unlikely to get them back, and could face even greater
costs finding new tenants in an insecure rental market.

“If the tenant is facing
hardship, increasing their burden with rent arrears is going to help neither
the tenant nor the landlord. Instead of passing the rent arrears onto a single
tenant, it should be passed onto the tenancies until the term of the mortgage
is over,” he says.

Drappier
explains that after one landlord won a three-month break on their £700 pcm mortgage
payments, he temporarily lowered the rent from £950 to £250 a month – the
rental income he would normally receive on top of the mortgage payment, so he didn’t
lose out.

He tells LandlordZONE: “It might be unusual, but our landlords have done this after careful consideration. They have a good relationship with their tenants and have been taking the long-term view as they want to keep them. And while some have had to give proof of their tenants’ financial situation, some haven’t – it depends on the lender.”

Read more about rent arrears.

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