Rent Arrears

If you start to experience problems paying your rent on time you need to:

contact your housing officer immediately to discuss the situation. It is very important that you seek our help and advice quickly and explain the problems you are facing before the debt gets too large and out of hand.
respond to our letters, phone calls and visits. Please keep appointments made to discuss your arrears. The earlier we make contact with you the sooner we can help you resolve the problem.
Get some advice about claiming housing benefit. You may be entitled. Your housing officer can give you some help and advice on claiming housing and other benefits.
either clear the arrears or reach an agreement to pay them off gradually.

We will:

do what we can to help you with your problems and may refer you to an independent Debt Advice Agency. They will be able to discuss the best way for you to clear your debt.
Make every effort to contact you by phone, home visit or office appointment in order to resolve the arrears problem as quickly as possible.
Follow the arrears procedure if you do not reach an agreement with us or if your arrears continue to rise.
Take legal action against tenants who do not pay their rent or who fail to keep to agreements to repay the amounts they owe. This could result in a tenant being evicted if the arrears are not cleared.

Housing Benefit

If your arrears are due to unpaid housing benefit you need to:

contact the benefits department as a matter of urgency to find out why your benefit has not been paid.
supply all the requested information promptly to enable your claim to be processed.
advise the benefits department of any change in your circumstances quickly.

Paying your rent is very important. If you do fall into difficulty please do not ignore the problem as it will not go away and will only get worse unless you seek our help.

Click here to see a copy of our rent arrears policy in our Key Policies page.