Rent Payments Nearly Back To Normal

The lockdown has hit tenants hard, and many have lost their job or seen their income dwindle, dealing a blow to many landlords in the process. Since March 2020, almost a quarter of landlords in England have lost some rent due to the pandemic. However, the first shock wave is now receding in our agency, as most tenants are coming back to normal and payments of rent have resumed to levels close to how they were before the crisis.

At Rent Happily, a third of the tenants we work with have faced income reduction and couldn’t afford to pay the full rent during lockdown. In order to prevent rent arrears building up, we contacted each landlord and worked together to devise a tailor-made solution for each situation.  The struggling tenants have been granted either a rent relief funded by a mortgage holiday, as explained in our previous article, a rent reduction, or a combination of both. As a result, all tenants kept the roof securely over their head, and no rent arrears built up in the meantime, whilst ensuring a steady income for the landlords.

After 5 months of turmoil, the rental income for landlords is now back to normal in 90% of the cases, and we are confident the full rents will be restored within a few months. We are very pleased with this improvement: it is excellent news for the tenants and a great relief to their landlords. In most cases, the tenants themselves have contacted us to express their desire to resume paying rent as normal as soon as they could afford to do so, and the gratitude to their landlords has been boundless in all cases.

This crisis has pushed the boundaries of what was normally expected from tenants and landlords, and the bond this has created between them is a strong and healthy one, which is a great satisfaction. Perhaps one could describe this as what sailors feel when reaching the harbour after a heavy storm, with all the men safe on board.

Rent Happily would like to give a heartfelt thank you to all landlords who stepped in when their help was needed, and for sharing this boat with us; it is a privilege working with you all.