Hello,
My tenancy contract renewed in November 2024. The Direct Debit did not update and we did not know this, and the landlord did not acknowledge this until June 2025. They are now requesting the back payment for the rent due to the slight increase.
In April, there was a tenant change and a new tenanacy agreement signed. Does this mean that payments from the old tenant (nov-april) should be void to this point?
Any advice would be great.
Thank you.
It is the tenants responsibility to pay the rent. I suspect you pay by ‘Standing Order’, not ‘Direct Debit’. Standing orders are within the control of the person who pays the bill, so you likely did not change this. ie its the payers fault, not the Landlords.
I don’t understand your point about an old tenant. The arrears will be payable by whomever was the tenant at the time the payment was due.
I find it surprising that the landlord issued a new contract in April 2025 without addressing the arrears from November 24.
Anyhow, If your tenancy agreement was a joint tenancy you and the previous tenant are jointly responsible for the arrears. If the previous tenant can’t be traced or refuses to pay now that they have left the property the landlord could pursue you for all of the arrears.
yes this is the frustrating thing - I’m surprised they hadn’t addressed the arrears then. Am i able to refuse due to a new contract and tenancy agreement? The previous tenant is untraceable therefore it all falls on myself.
You signed a joint tenancy, You are both liable and the Landlord can collect arrears from either of you. You need to pay it.
Firstly, it seems striking to me that you didn’t know a sizeable amount was leaving your account each month. Perhaps you weren’t responsible for paying the rent.
Only if the LL agrees to release you from it (if you’re in the fixed term) and, if it’s periodic, you can give the required notice. It would mean that whoever else is on that agreement would also find themselves having to leave or sign a new contract. However, you’d still be liable up to this point for any outstanding rent.
In the meantime, if you were responsible for the payments that stopped, you could at least pay your share of the backdated rent. That should be easy enough as it’ll still be in your bank account. If it’s not for some reason, then I would recommend negotiating a payment plan in writing with your LL for your share.
Finally, I’m not sure what you mean by “slight increase”.