If you miss a rent payment, it is very important that you contact your Housing Officer right away. Your Housing Officer will do everything they can to help you. We need your co-operation from the earliest stage before the problem becomes serious.

Get help from your Housing Officer at your local housing office. If you fall into arrears with your rent, you should contact them right away. Staff will:

• discuss your arrears with you
• agree a repayment plan
• give you advice about applying for benefits if you are on a low income

If you are unable to pay the amount you owe in full, we can enter into an agreement with you. This will allow you to pay it off gradually. This involves paying an extra amount, on top of your rent, until the debt is paid off.

When you accepted your tenancy you signed a legal agreement to pay your rent on time. If you don’t pay it on time, you have broken that agreement and we can take action against you that could put your home at risk. If you do not pay your rent, it makes it more difficult for us to provide services to repair and maintain your home.

We can make you leave your home if you don’t make an effort to pay your rent. We will take action through the courts against tenants who do not pay their rent.

Each time you make a payment at one of our offices or at a post office you will be given a receipt. Always check that your receipt is correct before you leave. If you pay by direct debit or standing order, the payment will show on your bank statement. You can ask for a rent statement at any time at your Area Housing Office.

These stages explain what we will do if you don't contact us about your arrears.

Early stage

We will send you a reminder letter first. If you fail to contact us or pay the amount you owe us, your Housing Officer will visit you at home. If you fail to respond to this visit, we will move to the next stage of our arrears policy.

Serious stage

If you still fail to contact us, you will receive a notice of proceedings (NOP) for recovery of possession. You may also receive a NOP if you do contact us but still owe a considerable amount. This notice allows us to take legal action against you for not paying your rent. It is normally served on you by a Housing Officer or by recorded delivery. You will be asked to sign to confirm you have received it. There may be times when a Sheriff Officer will serve the notice. It is valid for six months from the date that it becomes effective. By law, we must also send this NOP to everyone in your home who is over 15 years and 9 months old, who we know is living with you.

Court stage

If you still do not contact us, we will take court action to allow us to evict you from your home. This is always taken as a last resort. The Housing Officer will visit you again to try and speak to you before we take action. If we have to take you to court, this will cost you money. You will be charged court expenses of around £150.

Order for eviction

If this happens, we will invite you to your Area Housing Office to be interviewed by the Area Housing Manager. This is your final opportunity to explain why you have not been able to pay your rent. We will tell you when you need to have either paid the balance in full or substantially reduced it. If you do not do this before the given date, we will set a date for you to be evicted.

An eviction date has been set

If the date has been set, you should contact your Housing Officer right away. If you do not contact them, we will evict you. If you do contact them, there are certain circumstances where we will agree to postpone your eviction and monitor payments. It is essential that you contact your Housing Officer to discuss your circumstances.

Former Tenant Arrears are accounts where the full rent was not paid. This is while the person was the tenant or when they left the tenancy.

Once you have ended your tenancy, you will receive a letter telling you about any money you may owe us. A Housing Officer will also carry out a property inspection when we receive your notice ending the tenancy. If you have arrears at this time, you can arrange to pay by instalments or clear the account completely. This will be on top of your ongoing rent and will continue until your tenancy ends. You can also request a final rent balance. If you are still in arrears at this point, you should arrange to clear the debt.

Leaving your property and returning keys

You are required to give us four weeks’ notice if you intend to leave your property. If you abandon your property, we will charge you rent for the full four-week notice period. If you do not hand in your keys by the given date or time, you may have to pay extra rent. It is very important that you check when and where to return your keys to avoid this. If you have claimed Housing Benefit for your previous tenancy, you must discuss your claim with the Benefits Service before you end your tenancy.

Recovering former tenant arrears

If you leave your tenancy with former tenant arrears and do not give us your new address, we will use a tracing agency to trace you. If you ignore your arrears and fail to respond to our arrears reminder letters, we may take legal action against you to recover the debt. This will lead to extra legal costs. We will mention any former tenant arrears in any reference we provide about your tenancy. This could have a negative effect on your credit rating.

Applying for another Council tenancy

Any debts you have after ending a tenancy could prevent us from offering you a property in the future. That is unless you agree, and keep to, a plan to repay the debt.

Death of the tenant

If a tenant has died, our policy is to continue to charge full rent on the property until the keys are returned to the office. Any rent that still needs to be paid when the keys are handed in will be discussed with the family. It could be claimed back through the tenant’s estate. Please note if the tenant received Housing Benefit, this would stop on the date they died.

How to pay former rent arrears

Former rent arrears can be paid in person at any area office or by calling 01294 485615. This can be done using any of the following methods:

• cash
• post office
• PayPoint facility
• cheque
• postal order
• credit or debit card

Former tenant account in credit

If you have given us a new address, we will refund you. If the tenant has died, we will refund their representative.