If you cannot pay your rent or mortgage

Put it in writing, and do it before the due date rather than after. For a mortgage this is not merely good manners: MCOB 13.3 requires a firm to deal fairly with any customer who has or may have payment difficulties, and the rule expressly captures a customer who indicates that there is a reasonable likelihood of a shortfall arising. Telling the lender in advance starts the clock on its obligations. The Mortgage Charter goes further and records that anyone worried about their repayments can contact their lender for help and guidance without any impact on their credit file, which removes the most common reason people give for staying silent.

For a tenancy there is no equivalent rulebook binding a private landlord, so the purpose of writing is different. What you are building is a documentary record that you engaged early, paid what you could and proposed a schedule. That record is the evidence, because outside the mandatory ground almost every arrears decision in the UK turns on whether possession is reasonable — and in Scotland the Tribunal is specifically directed to look at the landlord's compliance with the pre-action requirements on rent arrears. Send an email or a letter, keep it factual, state what you can pay and by when, and keep a copy.

Get a free debt adviser involved in the same week. MCOB 13.3 obliges mortgage firms to tell customers in difficulty that free and impartial money guidance and debt advice is available, which tells you how central the advice sector is to how the regulator expects this to be handled. StepChange is a non-profit charity whose advice is free, on 0800 138 1111. National Debtline is free on 0808 808 4000, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 8pm and Saturday from 9.30am to 1pm. Citizens Advice publishes separate guidance on urgent rent arrears and on mortgage arrears.

Sort your debts into priority order before you pay anyone. Rent and mortgage are priority debts because the consequence of not paying them is losing your home; a credit card is not, whatever the tone of the letters. Citizens Advice groups rent arrears, mortgage arrears, council tax and energy together as the urgent category for exactly that reason. Paying a catalogue debt to stop the phone ringing while a mortgage shortfall grows is the most expensive mistake available here.

Consider Breathing Space, formally the Debt Respite Scheme, which operates in England and Wales. It gives up to 60 days during which creditors cannot take enforcement action, cannot contact you about the debts included, and cannot add interest or charges. There is a longer version for people receiving mental health crisis treatment, lasting the length of the treatment plus a further 30 days. You cannot apply directly — a free debt adviser applies for you — and you must keep making your ongoing payments during it. You cannot use it if you have a debt relief order, an individual voluntary arrangement or an interim order, if you are an undischarged bankrupt, or if you have used it in the past 12 months other than for a mental health crisis.

Do a benefits check the same week, and report any change to Universal Credit immediately. GOV.UK warns that a change of circumstances affects how much you are paid for the whole assessment period, not just from the date you report it, so a rent rise or an income drop reported late costs real money. A drop in earnings, a rent increase, a partner leaving, a child arriving or the onset of ill health can each open entitlements that did not exist last month.

If you claim Universal Credit you can get an extra amount towards housing costs. GOV.UK describes it as covering rent to a private landlord, and rent plus eligible service charges where you rent from a housing association or a local authority. It is not a separate claim — it forms part of the single monthly award — but it does have to be declared and evidenced, so a tenancy agreement, a rent statement or a rent increase letter should go into your journal as soon as it exists.

There are housing types the Universal Credit housing element does not cover, and it catches people out. GOV.UK lists supported housing where care, support or supervision is provided, temporary accommodation provided by a council because you are homeless, and domestic abuse refuges. Housing costs in those settings are met through Housing Benefit instead, and someone moving from a private tenancy into temporary accommodation therefore has to make a Housing Benefit claim they were not expecting.

Housing Benefit itself is now a residual benefit. GOV.UK states that new claims are limited to people who have reached State Pension age, on conditions relating to couples, and to people living in supported, sheltered or temporary housing that provides care, support or supervision. It also lists the exclusions: savings above £16,000, paying a mortgage rather than rent, being a full-time student, and already receiving Universal Credit. If you are working age and renting privately, the housing element of Universal Credit is almost certainly the route.

Expect a shortfall and plan for it rather than discovering it. Local housing allowance rates, the size criteria and non-dependant deductions all mean the housing element frequently pays less than the contractual rent, and GOV.UK's own Universal Credit housing page points anyone in that position at their council's Crisis and Resilience Fund or discretionary housing payment. The shortfall is not a mistake to be argued about with DWP; it is the designed gap that the discretionary schemes in the next section exist to bridge.

Claim Council Tax Reduction at the same time. GOV.UK confirms a bill can be reduced by up to 100 per cent, that it is available whether you own or rent and whether or not you work, and that each council runs its own scheme with its own rules, with an entirely separate scheme in Northern Ireland. It is worth doing even though it is not rent: council tax is itself a priority debt with fast enforcement, and removing it frees money for the housing cost. While you are at it, ask the landlord or agent for a full rent statement showing every charge and payment, and reconcile it against your bank statements — there is no sense agreeing a repayment plan built on a balance that includes charges the tenancy does not permit.

A discretionary housing payment is the main tool for a rent shortfall. The DWP guidance manual is clear about the gateway: you must already be receiving Housing Benefit or the housing costs element of Universal Credit, and you must show you need further financial assistance with housing costs — typically that you cannot meet the rent from your available income or that there is a shortfall. It is a discretionary award from a cash-limited local budget, not an entitlement, which is why the quality of the application matters.

It can do more than plug a monthly gap. The manual confirms that a DHP can be used for past rent arrears, citing a Court of Appeal decision where the claimant had been receiving full Housing Benefit when the arrears accrued, and lists rental deposits, rent in advance and other lump sum costs associated with a housing need, such as removal costs, as eligible uses. If moving somewhere cheaper is the realistic answer, the fund that helps you stay can also be the fund that helps you go.

Know what it cannot cover, so you do not waste the application. The manual excludes ineligible service charges, increases in rent arising from outstanding rent arrears, reductions caused by Universal Credit sanctions or other benefit reductions, shortfalls arising from the recovery of overpayments, and suspensions of benefit for failing to supply information. If your shortfall comes from a sanction or an overpayment deduction, the fix is to challenge or renegotiate that deduction, not to apply for a DHP.

There is no statutory application form. The manual says councils may accept applications electronically, by telephone, online or face to face, and that the claimant must supply details of income, capital and expenditure, with decisions communicated promptly. In practice a short covering statement setting out the shortfall in pounds, what you have already done about it, and what you need and for how long, does more than the form itself. Ask for the decision in writing.

The label differs by nation and the conversation does not. The DWP manual records that from 1 April 2026 the England equivalent shifted to the Housing Payment strand of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, while Wales continues to operate discretionary housing payments; Scotland runs its own DHP scheme through councils. If a council officer does not recognise the phrase you use, ask for whatever scheme the authority now uses to help with a rent shortfall for someone on the Universal Credit housing element.

Northern Ireland has a different instrument again. Discretionary Support, run by the Department for Communities, gives either an interest-free loan or a non-repayable grant to people in an extreme or exceptional crisis, and nidirect lists advance rent to a private landlord — though not to the Housing Executive — among the things it can cover, alongside short-term living expenses and basic household items. nidirect gives an annual household income limit of £29,741.40 and caps awards at three loans, one living expenses grant and one household items grant in any 12 months. The application line is 0800 587 2750.

Ask the same team about crisis money as well as housing money. The council staff who ran the food, clothing and utility grants are generally the staff running whatever replaced them, so one conversation with the welfare or benefits team beats chasing named funds one at a time.

Universal Credit can pay the housing element straight to the landlord. DWP calls these Alternative Payment Arrangements, and its published guidance sets out three: a managed payment to landlord, more frequent payments — twice monthly, or exceptionally four times monthly — and, in exceptional circumstances, split payments between two members of a household. They exist precisely for households where the monthly single payment is not working, which describes most people reading this page.

DWP sorts the triggers into two tiers. Tier one covers factors making an APA highly likely to be needed, including rent arrears or the threat of eviction, severe debt problems, homelessness or temporary accommodation, addiction, learning difficulties, mental health conditions, domestic violence, being 16 or 17 or a care leaver, and families with multiple complex needs. Tier two covers factors making it less certain but still relevant, including existing third party deductions, a history of rent arrears, having been homeless previously, recent discharge from prison or hospital, recent bereavement and language barriers.

Either side can ask. DWP's guidance states that a claimant or a landlord can make the request, and gives the routes: through the online Universal Credit account, by speaking to a work coach or case manager, or by phoning the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644. Landlords use the separate Apply for a Direct Rent Payment service. Since 3 December 2025 a tenant in social rented housing can object to a managed payment to landlord being set up, so it is no longer purely the landlord's decision in that sector.

The arrears trigger for a managed payment is specific. DWP's guidance describes it applying where arrears equal two months of rent, or where continual underpayment over more than two months has built up to the equivalent of one month's rent. Below that, a managed payment can still be agreed but you are relying on the tier factors rather than on the arrears figure alone.

Repaying arrears through the award is a separate mechanism. GOV.UK's deductions guidance lists rent and service charge arrears among the third party debts that can be recovered directly from Universal Credit, states that the maximum normally taken to repay debt is 15 per cent of the standard allowance — a figure it attributes to April 2025 — and notes that deductions for child maintenance and for preventing eviction or utility disconnection can exceed that level. Only three third party deductions can run at any one time.

You have two levers on the rate. GOV.UK says you can object to a rent or service charge deduction where the arrears amount to less than two months' worth, and that rent arrears taken at a rate above 10 per cent of the standard allowance can be raised as causing financial hardship. Both are worth using, because a deduction set at a level that leaves you unable to eat simply converts one crisis into another.

Scotland has a standing choice the rest of the UK does not. GOV.UK's Universal Credit housing page records that claimants there can opt to have the housing element paid to them or paid straight to the landlord, without establishing an exceptional case. If monthly budgeting rather than the amount is the problem, exercise that option early.

In England, since 1 May 2026, a private landlord can no longer serve a section 21 no-fault notice. Shelter records the change, and GOV.UK's guidance for tenants served with a notice of possession after that date explains the replacement: a landlord must rely on a statutory ground, serve the notice on Form 3A, and go to court if you do not leave. Grounds 1 to 8 are mandatory and grounds 9 to 17 are discretionary. The distinction is the whole game — on a mandatory ground the court must order possession if the ground is proved, while on a discretionary ground it must also decide that possession is reasonable.

Ground 8 is the mandatory arrears ground and its threshold moved. GOV.UK's grounds guidance states that you must owe three months' rent if you pay monthly, or 13 weeks if you pay weekly or fortnightly, both on the day the notice is given and at the date of the hearing, and that the notice period is four weeks. Two protections sit inside that. You cannot be evicted on it if the arrears are cleared before proceedings, and GOV.UK states that arrears arising from a delayed Universal Credit payment do not count towards the threshold.

Below the mandatory threshold the landlord is arguing, not asserting. Ground 10 covers any rent arrears at all and Ground 11 covers persistent delay in paying rent; both carry four weeks' notice and both are discretionary, so the court must be satisfied that making a possession order is reasonable. That is where a documented payment history, a managed payment to the landlord, a pending discretionary housing payment application and evidence of engagement do real work.

One arrears ground has nothing to do with your arrears. Ground 2 allows possession where the landlord's own mortgage lender is seeking possession, and GOV.UK gives it a four-month notice period. If that is the ground on your notice, the debt is not yours and the council's homelessness duties are the route to concentrate on.

Scotland decides the same question differently. The Scottish Government's tenants' guide says a private residential tenancy can be ended where you have been in rent arrears for three or more months in a row, that this ground can be mandatory or discretionary depending on the circumstances, and that in practice all grounds are discretionary — the First-tier Tribunal takes all the circumstances into account when deciding whether it is reasonable to grant an eviction order. It must specifically consider whether the arrears are due to a delay or failure in the payment of a relevant benefit, and the landlord's compliance with the pre-action requirements on rent arrears.

Wales runs its own statute. Under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 an occupation contract can be ended on a serious rent arrears ground — section 181 for periodic standard contracts and section 187 for fixed term standard contracts — each subject to statutory restrictions in sections 182 and 188, with the court's powers on the serious rent arrears grounds set out in section 216. Because the thresholds and restrictions are set in that Act rather than in the Housing Act 1988, guidance written for England is unreliable in Wales.

Northern Ireland has a separate private tenancy framework again, with its own notice periods and its own court process, and no equivalent of the England and Wales grounds numbering. Housing Rights is the specialist advice body there and runs a helpline on 028 9024 5640, covering eviction, rent arrears and mortgage problems. Take advice on the specific notice before you respond to it.

Your lender is a regulated firm and MCOB 13 is the rulebook it is judged against. MCOB 13.3 requires a firm to deal fairly with any customer who has or may have payment difficulties, and to have a written policy for doing so approved by its governing body. The rule reaches customers with a shortfall, customers who indicate one may arise, and customers the firm has become aware may be at risk. Quoting the rule number in writing moves the conversation from a request for sympathy to an allegation of a rule breach.

The procedural duties are specific. The firm must inform the customer that free and impartial money guidance and debt advice is available; make reasonable efforts to reach an agreement over the method of repaying any shortfall; allow a reasonable period over which the shortfall is to be repaid; grant a request to change the payment date or method unless it has good reason not to; and allow a reasonable time to effect a sale where the customer is selling. It must also keep adequate records of its dealings, including recordings of telephone conversations that discuss the arrears or payment shortfall charges — recordings you can ask for.

MCOB 13.3 then lists what the firm should consider, with the customer's agreement. Extending the term of the mortgage. Changing the mortgage type. Waiving or deferring payment of capital, interest, or both, for a period. Reducing the interest rate or applying simple interest. Treating the shortfall as if it were part of the original amount — capitalisation — subject to limits on doing that automatically. And making use of any relevant government forbearance scheme. If your lender has not put these on the table, it has not done what the rules require.

The end point of the rule is the important part: a firm must not repossess unless all other reasonable attempts to resolve the position have failed. That is a materially higher bar than a contractual right to possession after a missed payment, and it is why a documented record of your proposals, and of the lender's response to each, is worth more than any single payment you make.

Sitting on top of the rules is the Mortgage Charter. GOV.UK's published text records that all lenders agreed that anyone worried about repayments can contact their lender for help and guidance without any impact on their credit file, that customers up to date on payments can switch to a new deal without a fresh affordability assessment, that they will be told in good time before a rate expires, and that trained staff will offer tailored support including term extensions, interest-only switches, payment deferrals and part payments.

Charter signatories committed to more. GOV.UK lists a commitment that a borrower will not be forced to leave their home without their consent, unless in exceptional circumstances, in less than a year from their first missed payment; the ability to lock in a new deal up to six months before a fixed rate ends; the option to switch to interest only for six months with no affordability check and no credit score impact; and the option to extend the term to reduce monthly payments, reversible within six months, again with no new assessment and no credit file damage.

If the lender will not engage, complain in writing. Set out the MCOB 13.3 duties you say have not been met, list the options you asked it to consider and its answers, and ask for a final response. That letter converts a stalled phone call into a regulated complaint with a paper trail — and it is the document a court reads if the lender later claims it explored every alternative.

Support for Mortgage Interest helps with the interest on a mortgage for the home you live in, and on loans taken out for certain repairs and improvements. GOV.UK is explicit about what it is not: the help is paid as a loan which you will need to repay with interest, and repayment falls due when you sell your home or transfer ownership. It is secured against the property, and there is no credit check to get it.

Eligibility runs through a qualifying benefit. GOV.UK lists income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit and Pension Credit. There is no standalone SMI claim — you must be receiving one of those, which means that for many households the first step towards SMI is establishing entitlement to Universal Credit, not contacting the lender.

The waiting period is the part that catches people out. GOV.UK says a Pension Credit recipient can get SMI from the date the Pension Credit begins, while a Universal Credit claimant must have received it for three consecutive months, or move onto it within one month of another qualifying benefit ending and have three months across the two combined. Three months of unpaid interest is a serious amount of arrears, which is why SMI has to run alongside lender forbearance rather than instead of it.

Restart rules matter if you have had SMI before. GOV.UK says you may get it again immediately if you resumed Universal Credit within six months of it stopping, moved from Pension Credit to Universal Credit, or claimed Universal Credit within a month of income-based ESA ending. Otherwise the waiting period runs again from scratch.

Understand what SMI does and does not fix. It covers interest, not capital, so on a repayment mortgage it reduces the monthly obligation rather than clearing it, and it does not touch arrears that have already accrued. GOV.UK itself advises speaking to your lender first, because a lender may be able to offer a temporary payment holiday, interest-only payments or a term extension — the same options MCOB 13.3 requires it to consider. It also warns there is no guarantee of getting SMI for a mortgage or loan you take out.

Apply as soon as the qualifying benefit starts rather than waiting to see whether you cope. Because the Universal Credit waiting period runs from the start of the claim, delaying the benefit claim delays the SMI by the same margin, and the arrears grow through the whole of it. Tell the lender that an SMI application is in progress: the pre-action protocol expressly requires a lender to consider postponing a claim where a borrower has made a genuine application for government help.

For a mortgage in England and Wales, the Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims based on Mortgage or Home Purchase Plan Arrears governs what has to happen first. The lender must provide a regulatory information sheet, the payment history for the previous two years and a breakdown of the arrears including any interest and charges applied. It must advise the borrower to make early contact with the local authority's housing department and refer them to independent debt advice.

The protocol also tells the lender when to hold off. It requires consideration of postponing a claim where the borrower has made a genuine application for government support, where an insurance claim is pending, where the borrower may be eligible for welfare assistance, or where they need time to obtain debt advice; and where the property is genuinely being marketed at an appropriate price, the lender should allow a realistic period to complete the sale. Starting a possession claim is described as a last resort that must not normally be started where alternatives are being explored.

Non-compliance does not automatically kill a claim — the protocol says expressly that it does not alter the parties' rights and obligations — but the court can take conduct into account, and a defendant who sets out in writing before the hearing exactly which steps were skipped does far better than one who raises it orally on the day.

Free legal help at this stage is genuinely free and genuinely unconditional. The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service is available from the moment you receive written notice that someone is seeking possession of your home, and GOV.UK states plainly that it is not means tested — your financial situation will not affect your right to access the support and you will not need to pay. It covers rent arrears, mortgage arrears, illegal eviction, disrepair, welfare benefits and debt, and a housing adviser can both advise beforehand and represent you at the hearing. Find a provider by postcode at find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk, and if you are attending court, arrive around 30 minutes early to see the duty adviser.

Scotland puts the same protections in statute rather than in a protocol. Under the Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010 a creditor must apply to the court for remedies on default rather than taking possession itself, and section 4 sets out pre-action requirements: providing clear information about the terms of the standard security and the amount due, making reasonable efforts to agree proposals for paying the arrears, not applying to court where the debtor is taking steps likely to result in payment within a reasonable time, providing information about sources of debt advice, and encouraging the debtor to contact the local authority. The Act also gives the court broad powers, lets entitled residents apply to the court in their own right, and allows recall of a decree.

Whichever tenure you are in, apply to the council as soon as a notice arrives. Section 175 of the Housing Act 1996 treats you as threatened with homelessness if it is likely you will become homeless within 56 days, and separately where a valid notice has been served on your only accommodation and the date in it falls within 56 days. That triggers an assessment and a personalised housing plan under section 189A. Applying at the notice stage is not premature; it is the point at which the council has the widest range of things it can still do, including negotiating with the landlord or funding a discretionary housing payment.

In Northern Ireland the equivalent conversation runs through the Housing Executive and Housing Rights, whose helpline on 028 9024 5640 covers eviction, rent arrears and mortgage problems, alongside the Discretionary Support line on 0800 587 2750 for crisis payments. HM Courts and Tribunals Service publishes quarterly mortgage and landlord possession statistics for England and Wales, which is a reminder that possession is an ordinary, heavily used process — and that the people who do best in it are the ones who turned up with advice.