Tenants given warning over paying rent annually

Industry officials are warning consumers to reconsider if they are thinking about paying their rent on an annual basis in order to get a discount on their rent, as otherwise they could end up losing their money and find themselves without a place to live in the process, especially in the current climate where many landlords are being repossessed.

Many private tenants decide to pay thousands of pounds to their landlords in order to get a discount, but there is a danger that even though the landlord has had the money he or she could fall behind with repayments and end up getting repossessed, which would leave the tenant in a very difficult position.

An expert from the Council of Mortgage Lenders advised: : ‘A bank or building society will eventually send a letter to ‘the occupier’ of a property. We advise tenants to open any letter addressed this way. The letter will give them a minimum of 14 days’ notice of any court hearing to repossess the house. If the court does repossess, they will have a further minimum 28 days before the lender takes possession. As soon as a tenant realises there is a problem, they should get advice from Citizens’ Advice or a solicitor, and make contact with their landlord’s lender.’

One tenant who went through this situation after paying thousands of pounds in advance for her rent said: ‘We are feeling very vulnerable. We had no idea when we rented the property that this could happen. We just assumed that everything was OK. We face losing all our money and our deposit, or having to go to court, should the lender want to repossess during our one-year tenancy.’