Band 8+: You are experiencing financial problems and want to ask your landlord if you can pay your rent late. Write a letter to your landlord. In your letter explain: Why you cannot pay the rent . When you will pay the rent. How you will ensure you can pay your rent in the future.

Dear Mr Strickland,

I am writing to you to request that you allow me to pay my rent late this month.

The reason is that I am having a few financial problems at the moment. Last month, I was made redundant from my job due to the fact that the company I work for is closing down. Because I have not worked at the company for long, I have not received a redundancy payment, therefore leaving me short of money this month.

I can assure you that I will be able to pay the rent on the 15th of next month. I have now found another job, and they have kindly agreed to give me an advance on my wages, but they are unable to arrange this until next week.

I can assure you that I will be able to continue to pay rent at the full rate and on time in the future. As I mentioned, I have a new job and this is on a long-term contract, meaning that I will have a secure and timely income. I may also set up a direct debit so the payment goes to your automatically each month.

I hope this will be acceptable to you, but please contact me if it is a problem.

Yours sincerely,

John Streetham.