Rent arrears

The terms of your tenancy requires you to pay your rent and service charge. This means by law you are required to pay your rent on a regular basis.

 

 If you get into arrears

If you are experiencing difficulties in paying your rent please contact us as soon as possible. You will be able to speak with an income officer, who will give you advice and try to help find a way to solve the problem.

If you don’t contact us we will contact you in writing, by phone or send you a text message.

If you do not make a reasonable offer to pay off your arrears and your account remains in arrears, we will take legal action against you which could eventually result in the loss of your home.

 

Legal Action Procedure

The first step we take is to send you a Notice of Seeking Possession. This is a Legal document indicating that if you don’t pay in full your arrears or make a formal agreement to pay off your arrears, we will apply to court to take possession of your home.

If you receive a Notice of Seeking Possession, you should contact us immediately to discuss your account and prevent any further action

Going to court

If you have to go to court, you will receive a letter confirming the date of your court hearing. You will need to attend this hearing as we will be asking the County Court to give us possession of your home.

 The court can:

  • Decide evicting you isn’t justified and stop eviction proceedings.

  • Issue a possession order giving us permission to evict you.

  • Issue a suspended possession order giving you a final chance to avoid eviction.

After court

  • If you receive a Suspended Possession Order this means that the County Court has given us possession of your home, but it has been suspended on the condition that you pay an ordered amount towards your arrears by a specific date.

  • You must continue to pay this amount and any court costs until the arrears are clear. If you fail to do so, we can ask the County Court to issue a warrant to evict you from your home.

  • If you have any questions about the Suspended Possession Order then please contact us or seek legal advice.

 

Eviction notice

If you receive an Eviction Notice, you can stop the eviction from going ahead if you pay all the money that you owe to us immediately.

  • If you don’t leave the property by the date given on your eviction notice, we will ask the court to send a bailiff to remove you and your belongings.