Rent arrears: help and your options

Missed rent payments are known as arrears, and they are treated as priority debts because they could mean you are at risk of being evicted from your home¹. Unlike a credit card or a personal loan, rent is secured by the roof over your head: if the arrears are not dealt with, your landlord can give you written notice and ask a court for a possession order, and ultimately have you evicted². An eviction notice usually means you have rent arrears of three months or more, so by the time formal action starts the debt has already been building for a while³.

Arrears do not begin on the day your rent is late in the ordinary sense. Official guidance is that rent and service charges you owe become arrears when they are unpaid the day after your tenancy agreement says they are due⁴. That means one missed payment is already an arrears problem in the eyes of your landlord and the courts, even if it feels like a temporary blip. The good news is that there are more options available early: a repayment plan agreed directly with your landlord, help with housing costs through benefits, and extra payments from your council can each stop the debt growing before court action begins.

Why rent arrears are a priority debt

Rent arrears are classed as a priority debt, which means they sit in a different category from ordinary consumer borrowing. The reason is the consequence of not paying: accommodation arrears should be treated as a priority because if you fall behind with rent payments, you risk being evicted from your home⁸. A credit card lender can chase you, add charges and take county court action, but it cannot take your home away in the way a landlord ultimately can through possession proceedings.

Priority debts are the bills with the most serious consequences attached, and rent arrears appear alongside council tax arrears and gas or electricity arrears with your current supplier as the common examples⁸. Independent Age makes the same point from the other direction: rent arrears are considered priority debts because they could mean you are at risk of being evicted from your home¹. Which? puts it plainly too: if you fail to pay your rent, you might be evicted from the property².

The practical effect of this classification is about order of payment. When money is short, priority debts get paid first and non-priority debts get whatever is left, even if that means token payments to the others. A debt adviser building a budget with you will treat rent, and any repayment towards rent arrears, as a fixed commitment before a single pound is allocated to unsecured borrowing. If you are weighing up which bills to pay this month, the dedicated guide to priority and non-priority debts sets out the full reasoning, and free help building that budget is available from the sources listed in free debt advice.

Rent comes before credit cards and loans

The rule is simple to state: always prioritise paying back your rent arrears before other debts, like credit cards or payday loans⁹. This is not a moral judgement about which creditor deserves the money. It reflects what each creditor can do if they are not paid, and the landlord's ultimate remedy, eviction, is more damaging to a household than anything a card issuer can do.

When rent arrears are worked into a structured repayment plan, they are treated as a priority payment within the budget, with payments towards the arrears included alongside the ongoing rent¹⁰. That is true whether the plan is an informal arrangement with your landlord or a formal debt solution. The arrears element is not squeezed into the pot shared with unsecured creditors: it comes off the top.

The benefits system applies the same logic when it recovers money from Universal Credit. Where deductions are taken from your payment for other debts, official guidance sets out the order of priority, and housing costs come first in that list, ahead of fuel arrears, rates arrears, fines and compensation orders, water charge arrears and various benefit overpayments¹¹. Northern Ireland guidance on how much can be taken from Universal Credit payments gives a similar order, with child maintenance at the top followed by housing costs, then rent or service charges included in rent at five per cent of your standard allowance, then fuel arrears and the rest¹². In other words, even the machinery that takes money off benefits recognises that keeping a roof over your head outranks almost everything else.

One further protection is worth knowing if you are a private tenant. From 1 May 2026, if you are a private tenant and any rent arrears are caused by delays in paying the housing costs element of Universal Credit, those arrears will be ignored when deciding the rent arrears level for possession purposes⁶. That matters because the level of arrears can determine which possession route a landlord can use, as explained later in this page.

Talking to your landlord and agreeing a repayment plan

The first step is to contact your landlord as soon as possible and explain that you are struggling¹³. Before you do, find out exactly how much you owe and ask your landlord for a rent account statement so you can check the figure against your own records¹³. Arrears figures are sometimes wrong, and a disputed balance is much easier to resolve before it becomes the subject of court papers.

Once you know the true figure, put a realistic offer together. Your landlord or letting agent is not required to negotiate with you, but they may be willing to agree to a repayment plan². A workable offer usually means your normal rent each week or month, plus an amount off the arrears that you can genuinely sustain until the debt is cleared. An offer you cannot keep is worse than a smaller one you can, because a broken agreement removes the goodwill that made the landlord hold off court action.

If your landlord will not accept a repayment plan, it is a good idea to pay what you have offered anyway¹⁴. Shelter Cymru's guidance explains why: paying the amount you proposed may make a difference if your landlord demands possession through the courts, because a judge looking at the case can see that you acknowledged the debt and were paying what you could¹³. Whatever is agreed, make sure any agreement is in writing and ideally signed by you both¹⁴. A written record protects both sides and prevents a dispute later about what was promised.

If you want help with the negotiation, a free debt adviser can talk to your landlord with you or draft the offer for you, and the options for informal payment arrangements explain how these agreements work in practice. If a creditor of another kind refuses an offer, the guide to what to do when a creditor refuses your repayment offer covers the next steps for that debt.

Housing Benefit: who can still claim and what it covers

Housing Benefit can help you pay your rent if you are unemployed, on a low income or claiming benefits, but it is a benefit that is being replaced by Universal Credit¹⁵. New claims are therefore restricted. You can only make a new claim for Housing Benefit if you have reached State Pension age, or you are in supported, sheltered or temporary housing¹⁵. Advice NI confirms the shape of the system in Northern Ireland: pensioners and people living in supported or temporary accommodation are not usually able to claim help with housing costs from Universal Credit and will continue receiving Housing Benefit, and people moving into those categories are entitled to make a new claim¹⁶. Scottish guidance states the same test: you can make a new claim if you are State Pension age, or living in sheltered, supported or temporary accommodation¹⁷.

If you are already getting Housing Benefit and you are not in one of those categories, you will continue to receive it until your circumstances change or you are invited to claim Universal Credit¹⁸. Nobody is switched off Housing Benefit overnight simply because the benefit is being phased out. And when you do move onto Universal Credit, you will normally get Housing Benefit for an extra two weeks after you claim Universal Credit, so there is no gap in help with rent during the transition¹⁹.

There are limits on savings. Your savings over £16,000 usually mean Housing Benefit is not paid, unless you get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit¹⁵. For claimants above the qualifying age for Pension Credit, the first £10,000 of capital is ignored and a more generous tariff income rate of £1 a week for each £500 of capital applies, but the upper capital limit of £16,000, beyond which no benefit is payable, still stands²⁰. Housing Benefit cannot be claimed to help pay mortgage costs²¹, so it is a renter's benefit, though in Northern Ireland renters and home owners on a low income might still be entitled to Housing Benefit, Rate Relief or both to help pay housing costs¹⁶.

How it is paid depends on your landlord. If you have a community landlord, such as a council or housing association, your Housing Benefit is usually paid directly to your landlord. If you rent privately, it is usually paid to you, and you then pay your landlord the rent²². In all private sector cases there are circumstances when the benefit must be paid to the landlord instead: for example if you are in rent arrears of eight weeks or more, if direct deductions are being made from your other benefits to pay rent arrears, or if you have left the property leaving rent arrears behind²². This third-party payment rule is a protection for you as much as for the landlord, because it stops the arrears growing while the money is in your account.

Backdating rules differ by age. If you are of working age, you can backdate a Housing Benefit claim for up to a month if you can show a good reason for the delay. If you are State Pension age, you can backdate for up to three months without giving a reason²³. Claims are not always paid at the full amount people are entitled to: official statistics for the financial year ending 2026 show around 10 in every 100 Housing Benefit claims had unfulfilled eligibility, with the total value falling to £130 million, down from £180 million the year before. Checking that your rent, income and household details are up to date with the council helps make sure you get what you are entitled to.

Discretionary Housing Payments: extra help from your council

A Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) is an extra payment made by your local council if you are struggling to pay your housing costs²⁴. It sits on top of Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit, and it exists for the gap those benefits leave: if you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit but it is not enough to cover your rent, you can check whether you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment²⁵. The Scottish cost of living guidance puts it the same way: if you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit and cannot afford your rent, you may be able to apply for one²⁶.

The most important feature of a DHP is that it does not have to be paid back⁶. Unlike a loan or a budgeting advance, it is money the council can give you to help with housing costs that stays given. DHPs can also be used to pay deposits or rent in advance if you have to move²⁷, which matters if arrears have made your current home unaffordable and a cheaper tenancy is the way out.

Who qualifies depends on the underlying benefit. If you are claiming Housing Benefit but still cannot pay your rent, you can apply to your local council for extra money in the form of a DHP²⁷. In Northern Ireland, private renters entitled to the housing element of Universal Credit where it does not cover all their rent can also apply¹⁹. The council decides whether to award a payment, how much and for how long²⁷: there is no automatic entitlement, and each council has a limited pot to allocate.

A DHP can sometimes reach back in time. Guidance notes that a Discretionary Housing Payment can sometimes be backdated to help pay off rent arrears you already owe⁹. That makes it worth applying even if the arrears are already several months old, provided you explain clearly what you owe and what will happen if you cannot pay.

Applying for a DHP and challenging a refusal

To apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment, contact your local authority²⁸. In England, Wales or Scotland that means your local council; in Northern Ireland, contact your local Housing Executive office²³. Councils run their own claim forms, so the process and the evidence they ask for vary from area to area.

What does not vary is what you need to explain. You must explain why you need help, how much you owe, and whether your landlord will evict you if you do not pay your rent arrears²⁹. Supporting evidence strengthens a claim: documents such as payslips, bank statements and letters from your landlord about the arrears or threatened eviction give the council the facts it needs to decide. Being specific about the eviction risk matters, because councils weigh the consequences of refusing as well as the size of the shortfall.

If the council refuses, ask it to look at the decision again. If the council refuses to review the claim, or reviews it and does not change its mind, there is no legal right of appeal, although the council could be challenged if it has acted unreasonably when dealing with your claim²⁴. That challenge is not the same as a benefits appeal: it is a complaint route, and it turns on whether the council followed its own policy and handled the claim fairly, not on whether you disagree with the outcome. If you think the handling was unreasonable, a free debt or housing adviser can help you frame the complaint, and the guide to free debt advice lists where to find one.

Rent arrears in a debt management plan

A debt management plan (DMP) is an informal arrangement that reduces payments on non-priority debts, and rent arrears need special handling inside one. The starting point is that rent arrears are a priority payment: the payments towards the arrears are included in your DMP budget before anything is offered to the plan's creditors¹⁰. Your ongoing rent, plus an agreed amount off the arrears, comes out of your income first, and only the remainder is divided among the credit card and loan debts in the plan.

Keep paying the arrears during your DMP if they have been agreed with your landlord or set by a court. If you stick to that arrangement, no further action will be taken on the arrears while the plan runs¹⁰. The arrears are not frozen like the debts inside the plan: they sit outside it, and the agreement with the landlord is what keeps the possession threat at bay. The guide to debt management plans explains how a DMP is built and what goes into the budget.

Rent arrears can also be included in a formal debt solution, but with a limit you need to know about. Rent arrears are a debt an individual can include in a debt relief order (DRO). However, a landlord can start or continue possession action during the DRO period³². In other words, the protection from creditors that a DRO gives does not stop the roof over your head being at stake, because possession proceedings are treated differently from ordinary debt collection. The same principle applies in Scotland, where official guidance on the Time to Pay scheme notes that the rules are different for rent or mortgage arrears debt³³. If you are considering a formal solution and you have rent arrears, take advice specifically about the arrears before you commit, and see debt relief orders and the Debt Arrangement Scheme for how each solution treats housing debts.

When your landlord goes to court: possession orders and eviction

A landlord cannot simply put you out. To evict you, the landlord will need to provide you with a written notice and apply for a court order, called a possession order². Official guidance for private tenants confirms the rule: they cannot take back possession without a court order⁵. If you fail to leave by the date specified on the order, the landlord can apply for a warrant of eviction².

The notice stage matters, and the rules differ between England and Wales. In Wales, if your landlord wants to end your occupation contract because of rent arrears, they have up to six months from the date they gave you the notice to apply to the court³⁵. The serious rent arrears ground in Wales is an absolute ground: if the court agrees that it applies, based on the arrears at the day of the notice and the day of the hearing, usually it will have to make a possession order that gives the property back to your landlord³⁵. Where possession is claimed on that ground, the maximum time the court can give you before you must leave is six weeks³⁶.

The court has more than one outcome available. Housing Rights sets out the possibilities for rent arrears cases:

• Outright possession order: you must leave your home by the date on the order. If you do not move out on time, your landlord can apply to evict you²⁹.
• Possession order with a stay: you must leave after a certain amount of time. The judge may use this if you cannot leave right away, for example because you are sick or pregnant, or to give you time to pay off the debt²⁹.
• Suspended possession order: you can stay as long as you stick to certain conditions, normally paying the arrears down at a set rate. Once your arrears are cleared, the suspended order is no longer valid²⁹.

A suspended possession order is often the best available result once a case reaches court, but it comes with a sharp edge. In many cases the order will say you have to pay a certain amount off your arrears each month on top of your monthly payments³⁷. If you miss even one payment, or pay less than the sums ordered, your landlord can apply to the court for a bailiff's warrant straight away. There is not normally another hearing, and you may only get a few days' warning before the bailiffs arrive to evict you³⁷. If a warrant is issued, it may still be possible to ask the court to stop it, and the guide to suspending a warrant of possession covers that process. One limit applies in Wales: if you have a standard occupation contract and the court gave your landlord outright possession on the ground of serious rent arrears, you cannot ask the court to stop the eviction, even if you clear the arrears³⁶.

Free legal advice if you face losing your home

Facing possession proceedings is not something you have to deal with alone, and free legal help exists at every stage. You can get free legal advice through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service if you receive written notice that you need to leave your home⁷. The service will work with you to identify what may be causing someone to seek possession of your home and recommend potential solutions, and it can provide you with representation on the day of your hearing⁷.

The scheme also runs an in-court duty scheme for possession cases, which gives free legal advice and representation in court on the day of your hearing⁶. That means turning up to the hearing does not leave you facing a judge with no legal support: a duty adviser at the court can look at your case and speak for you. Free early legal advice may be available through the service as soon as you are notified of possession proceedings⁶, and the same scheme operates in Wales for standard occupation contract cases³⁵.

In Northern Ireland, Housing Rights provides a free service covering advice, negotiation and court representation in certain circumstances³⁸, and the charity states it can represent you at court for free in mortgage debt and social rent arrears cases³⁹. Its helpline number is 0890245640³⁹. The earlier you make contact, the more options there are: an adviser can often negotiate a repayment plan before a hearing that a judge would be willing to accept, or identify a defence you did not know you had. If you are also struggling with other debts, a free debt adviser can make sure the whole picture is dealt with, and free debt advice lists the main sources.

Where to get help in each nation

The help available is broadly similar across the UK, but the routes differ by nation. For Housing Benefit claims, in England, Wales or Scotland you contact your local council for a claim form. In Northern Ireland, you can call the Housing Executive on 03448 920 902, pick up a form from a local office or claim online²³. For Discretionary Housing Payments, you apply to your local council in England, Wales or Scotland, and in Northern Ireland you contact your local Housing Executive office²⁷.

MoneyHelper, the government-backed money guidance service, is another starting point: it confirms that if you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit but it is not enough to cover your rent, you can check whether you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment²⁵. The Scottish Government's cost of living pages signpost the same help for Scottish renters²⁶, and the Welsh Government's get help with housing costs pages point to Discretionary Housing Payments through your local authority²⁸. In Northern Ireland, nidirect explains how Universal Credit housing payments work, including the extra two weeks of Housing Benefit after a Universal Credit claim and DHPs for private renters¹⁹.

Whatever nation you are in, the sequence that protects you most is the same: talk to your landlord early, check you are getting all the help with housing costs you are entitled to, and take free advice before court papers arrive rather than after. Rent arrears are a priority debt, but they are also one of the most negotiable: landlords, councils and courts all have room to work with a tenant who acknowledges the debt and pays what they can.