A lettings agency is asking tenants who cannot afford to pay rent during the Coronavirus crisis to sign a ‘moral contract’ that commits them to settling their arrears as soon as possible.
Murray & Currie Property, a Scottish agency, has sent a letter to tenants who have explained how they are not paying their full rent; the letter explains that the Coronavirus crisis has affected every industry and sector of society, including landlords.
The letter continues: “Your landlord has been made aware of your situation and we have communicated with them regarding your rental position.
“We are sending you this Tenant Charter as a moral contract to commit to working with your landlord and Murray & Currie Property and agree to unconditionally commit your intention to repay your rental shortly/arrears in full.
“Your landlord may also have been furloughed or even worse lost his/her job so it is important for you to know that they are no different to you and I, and they too have been affected by Covid-19.
“It is worth noting that any mortgage holiday a landlord may take must be paid back and they are in now way financially benefiting from any banking or government initiatives. There is no financial gain for landlords.”
At the bottom of the letter there is a tear-off slip which says: “ I …[name]… agree to pay my part and be #part of the team. I am committed to paying all rental arrears and honour my moral obligation to play my part.”
Letting Agent Today has asked Murray & Currie Property how successful it has been in securing tenant acceptance of the initiative.
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If I sent that to my tenants to return a tear off slip it would make its way swiftly to the bin I’m sure
Why?? They've signed a contract binding them to paying the rent. Duhh
Tenants need to know there hasn't been a change in terms.
I am sure the tear off slip wont be returned by anyone, a bit of symbolism perhaps. It is worth doing from an education perspective. There is a lot of fake news going around about tenant rent holidays and lobbyists calling for this and that. Constructively engaging with your tenants in explaining what the guidelines actually are, what is expected and what the possible outcomes could be if they stopped paying rent is a useful exercise and will lead to less arrears.
The mortgage holiday means that although not have to pay for 3 months, we still have to pay interest on unpaid mortgage for 3 months. so do we pass that onto tenants? tenants emailed that they have not work for a month and wont pay and ask to take deposit as payment but if they start work again, will pay. So what do i do? TDS not going to release deposit for sure.
Regardless of the effectiveness of the strategy, - you have to applaud the motivation.
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