Government must give clear statement on rental payments

Massive problem. Since the person who was moving out cannot do so, I assume they can continue paying you on a month to month basis?
The other tenant have they been furloughed because if so, they can pay something and maybe even as much as 80%.
Fortunately my two tenants have been with me for a number of years so do at least have a conversation and both told me when making the payment at the end of March they had been furloughed.
The issue now is, how much will one in particular pay, as he relies for roughly 40% of his income on commission and this is not included in the Gov scheme.

Reply to the comment left by Matarredonda at 07/04/2020 - 09:44
I'm sorry but I may have misunderstood UC. I thought that the idea of UC was that it made work pay. So if he can only get 40% of his income, is he not entitled to a top-up from UC?

I know that still creates a cash-flow problem but in the end if someone on here has a better idea of how UC works it might be that they know how to get the rent paid, even if it's only in a couple of months time.

Reply to the comment left by Matarredonda at 07/04/2020 - 09:44
Unfortunately my tenant will be leaving as they are moving from London to Birmingham. My only hope is that the current tenant in the Birmingham property stays put for the time being until the lockdown is removed. My other tenant has just paid me 60% of their rent and promised to pay the balance in 3 weeks. At least it’s something. Fingers crossed. Sounds like you’ve got a tough one with your tenant receiving commission earnings.

This will not apply to every landlord on property 118, but it will apply to some. See this link:

https://www.property118.com/am-i-self-employed/

For some of you your earnings will qualify as self-employment income. There is support promised for the self-employed, but not until June.

It HAS created a different crisis. Just moaning. Folks but ...

Landlords are not "lords" yet the name invokes beliefs from tenants that we are are powerful and rich. And from the government that we are responsible for housing, safety and security of the unemployed, the sick, the alkies and the druggies and anyone at all that needs a place to live - for the rest of their lives their welfare will become our responsibility. Meanwhile we must follow the government's 3000 plus increasing regulations, and be guardian angels to our tenants because council's did not want social housing responsibility and the expenses of maintaining their council estates. Instead, We landlords must up the standards of our homes, pay increasing taxes and be ignored by parliament as if we are morons. And we cant just walk away next month. After all, we are responsible for our tenants and responsible to our lenders. We should be re-named, any suggestions? Happy days and keep safe

Reply to the comment left by Ingrid Bacsa at 07/04/2020 - 16:02Quite right. The majority of landlords only have a couple of properties. Even for those with more it may be the case that it is their only source of income. Many people invested in property to supplement their pensions; for some it is their only pension, for many it's a big chunk of it. For many self-employed people it is a part of their income and the self-employed are getting no help yet. But their property is also often what they use to raise finance for their businesses.
And yes, you still have your costs. So if my tenant decides not to take out the bins as happened before what do I do now? Before when the rubbish was spilling all over the garden and through into the neighbours' property I just cleared it up to avoid a disagreement with the neighbours. I did it because I cannot invoice the tenant for anything; all I could do was issue a notice to quit (which I could not do now). Having had a few incidents like that I politely told the tenant that I was having to pay for things that I should not have to pay for; then I bumped the rent up a bit to help recover the additional cost of the things that should be done by the tenant because they are the tenant's responsibility under the AST, and hoped that they would get the message; look after the property, pay the rent on time, don't upset the neighbours. What we all want.
So what do I do now if the tenant doesn't take out the bins? I can't go to the council dump as I did before because the dump is closed. I can't go to the property without 24 hours notice and even then because of Covid19 I may not be allowed to at all.
And that's what life is now like for the majority of us landlords. You can't invoice your tenant...the only thing you can do is put the rent up a bit. You still have your costs but your ability to do anything about them is dramatically reduced. So if the government suggests to tenants that they don't have to pay the rent, that's grossly irresponsible. It's an attack on private businesses because often those businesses are not stand-alone, they are linked to what finances other sources of employment or self-employment. It's an attack on pensions because many people use these properties as their pensions.
As for those landlords for whom it is their only source of income I am assuming that their ownership of property would not exclude them from eligibility for Universal Credit. Because if that were the case, given that their income has been taken away from them through no fault of their own, this would be shameful.

If you have more than one property or have savings (over a small limit) you are not eligible for UC.

Reply to the comment left by Kathy Evans at 07/04/2020 - 17:20
By that do you mean more than one BTL? Or another property besides your PPR?

Reply to the comment left by JJ at 07/04/2020 - 17:23
A property that is not your principal private residence

Reply to the comment left by Kathy Evans at 08/04/2020 - 13:03I think by that you mean that if you have *one* BTL property as well as your PPR then that *one* BTL means that you would not qualify for UC.
So if you were e.g. a pensioner or self-employed person relying on 1-2 buy to let properties to supplement your income then you would not qualify for UC.