How breathing space can give you 60 days to sort out rent arrears without losing your home

If you are behind on your rent and worried about losing your home, there is a free government scheme that can buy you time to get help.

It is called breathing space — officially the Debt Respite Scheme. It gives you up to 60 days where creditors must stop chasing you for debts. During those 60 days, a debt adviser helps you make a plan to deal with what you owe.

Who can get it

You can get breathing space if you live in England or Wales and you have at least one qualifying debt you cannot repay.

Rent arrears qualify. So do fuel arrears, council tax arrears, and credit card or loan debts. You do not need to be on benefits to use the scheme, but if you are on Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, breathing space has an extra benefit for you (see below).

What pauses during the 60 days

Once you are on the scheme:

• Creditors must stop adding interest and charges to your qualifying debts.
• All enforcement action on those debts must stop.
• Your landlord normally cannot start a new eviction claim based on rent arrears while breathing space is active.

If you are on Universal Credit, DWP must also pause any deductions from your payments that are recovering existing debts — such as an advance loan repayment or an overpayment.

You must still pay your ongoing rent as it falls due. Breathing space only covers arrears that built up before the scheme started, not rent due from that point forward.

How to apply

You cannot apply yourself. A free debt adviser registers you through the Insolvency Service on your behalf.

Contact Citizens Advice — they can apply for free. If you have your income, outgoings, and debt amounts ready, an adviser can sometimes start the process on the same or next working day.

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What to do in those 60 days

Use the time wisely. Work with your adviser to agree a realistic repayment plan for the arrears. Also ask your local council whether you can get a Discretionary Housing Payment — a top-up grant that can help cover a gap between your Local Housing Allowance rate and your actual rent.

Contacting your landlord in writing to explain you are getting advice and working on a plan can also help. A landlord who sees you are taking action is less likely to pursue a court order the moment the moratorium ends.

Limits of the scheme

Breathing space is free and lasts the full 60 days. You can normally only use it once every 12 months.

If you are in mental health crisis and receiving treatment from a mental health professional, you may qualify for a mental health crisis moratorium — which lasts as long as your treatment plus 30 days. Ask your care coordinator or a debt adviser.

For urgent help with rent arrears or eviction risk, contact Citizens Advice or Shelter.