What I Do When a Tenant Is Three Months Behind on Rent

Three months of unpaid rent means the tenancy has already failed. I learned that the hard way in my first rental, when I let a tenant slide from one missed payment to three while I kept hoping. By month three, I was down more than the deposit and the relationship was too far gone to save.

The deposit protection problem comes first

Under the deposit protection rules, if you protected the deposit late, the tenant can claim between one and three times the deposit as a penalty. I'm not a lawyer, but I've seen tribunal decisions reduce that penalty when the landlord corrected the protection before any court action. That matters here, because your tenant could counterclaim for that penalty while you're evicting them. So I'd write to the tenant now, stating clearly that I regard the deposit as security for the rent arrears and that I'll apply it against the outstanding balance once the tenancy ends or if they agree in writing. I would not actually take money out of the scheme without the tenant's signature or a court order, because the scheme's dispute resolution will simply reverse an improper deduction.

Serve the Section 8 notice before you touch the deposit

This is the order that trips up new landlords. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed the mandatory rent arrears ground, ground 8, so you need at least three months' arrears at the date you serve the Section 8 notice and again at the hearing date. If you apply the deposit first, you might reduce the arrears below that threshold and lose your only mandatory ground. So I serve the Section 8 notice while the arrears are still three months or more, using ground 8 and, where the tenant has a history of late payment, ground 11. The prescribed form asks for details of each ground; I set out the rent due and the dates missed, with the total outstanding. Then, after the notice is served, I send the letter about applying the deposit to the balance.

Recover the rest through the county court

After you get possession, the arrears rarely end at the deposit. I go after the balance through the county court's online claim service. It's straightforward for a money claim: you enter the amount owed and the dates, with the tenancy details. The tenant can file a defence, including any counterclaim for the late deposit penalty. That penalty may offset some of your arrears, which is why correcting the deposit protection early reduces your exposure. In one case I had, the tenant counterclaimed for a late-protected deposit of one month's rent, and the judge set it off against three months of arrears, and I got a judgment for the remaining two months. Get that judgment in writing, and it's enforceable long after the tenant has gone.

Why I wouldn't use the selling ground

Some landlords think that if they planned to sell, they can use that ground to avoid the arrears fight. Under the Renters' Rights Act, there is a ground for selling, but it comes with restrictions—you can't use it in the first twelve months of a tenancy, and the notice period is long. Meanwhile your tenant is still not paying. Using ground 8 for rent arrears is usually quicker, so I would never choose the selling route when three months of arrears are sitting there. You'd be waiting months while the debt grows.

When to hand it off

Section 8 forms are not hard to fill in, but the deadlines and service rules, plus the hearing bundle, trip up even experienced landlords. If the tenant has raised a deposit counterclaim or if the paperwork is not perfect, the judge can adjourn and you lose another eight weeks of rent. For anything beyond a straightforward ground 8 with no defence, I'd pay an eviction specialist to run the process. The fee is a fraction of another month's lost rent.