One in five private-residential landlords have had tenants in rent arrears over the last quarter, the National Landlords Association (NLA) has claimed.

During the past three months 21% of landlords experienced rental arrears, down on the previous quarter’s figure of 24.5%.

The NLA has also revealed that the average amount of outstanding rent arrears has dropped significantly from £978 in Q1 to £799 in Q2. This could indicate that financial pressures on tenants have started to ease as the fragile economic recovery continues, it says.

David Salusbury , NLA chairman, said: “Rent arrears are a serious problem for landlords all over the UK. It is good to see the latest data which represents a small improvement in that more tenants are keeping up with their rent payments and not putting pressure on their landlords who may well have mortgage repayments to consider. It is critical that tenants and landlords communicate and work together to tackle financial problems before they result in a loss of rent or even the tenancy.”””