Awarded for Excellence * Positive About Disabled People * Welsh Federation of Planning Associations * Investors in People

Preventing Rent Arrears

Trouble Paying the Rent?

The main aim of our rent arrears work is to prevent people getting into debt, for the benefit of both the tenant and us. The first thing to do, if you are having problems paying your rent, is to contact us. We will then be able to advise you about the possibility of getting benefits or make other arrangements that may help.

As soon as you contact us, we will arrange a personal interview for you to discuss your case with one of our housing staff. We will talk to you in confidence and try to find a way to help. If we cannot help you directly, we will be able to put you in touch with other agencies that can assist, such as the Citizens’Advice Bureau, or the Specialist Money Advice Bureau. Having discussed your arrears, you will then be expected to make a mutually acceptable arrangement to clear your debt. If you cannot pay your arrears straight away, you will have to pay them off by an agreed amount each week until your arrears are cleared. To help you plan the repayment of your arrears or any other debts, we have included advice on how to manage debt on this page. Most arrears problems are sorted out in this way. So, if you are having difficulties, please let us know as soon as possible and we’ll do our best to help.

Our Housing Team's contact details are on the site, or you can contact us by email. By e mail you can:

Arrange an appointment with one of our team or ask for advice

Make an offer of payment to reduce your arrears - if you want to do this tell us how much you want to pay and when (e.g. weekly, monthly). Don't forget to include your name, address and contact details as we will write to you to confirm the arrangement if it's reasonable.

You can contact us by email about your arrears by clicking here.

We do take court action to sort out arrears problems, but only as a last resort. We cannot accept persistent arrears. So, if you do not make an arrangement to clear your arrears, or if you fail to keep an agreed arrangement, then we will, reluctantly go to the court to get repayment or, if necessary, possession of your home.

If we take legal action against you, we will only do so if all reasonable attempts to sort the problem out have failed. The usual procedure would be as follows:

If you do not pay your rent for two weeks, we will send you a letter requesting payment or asking you to contact us straight away if you cannot pay
If you do not clear your account or you do not contact us, we will try to contact you again by calling at your home or sending another letter proposing an interview to discuss your arrears
If you do not contact us or if you still do not keep to an agreement to pay, we will start legal action by issuing a Notice of Seeking Possession against you. The Notice will give you 28 days’ clear notice of our intention to take legal action against you. Usually, we will only take this step if you are four or more weeks in arrears. If you receive a Notice of Seeking Possession, please read it carefully and seek legal advice
Following the issue of the Notice, we will keep trying to reach a repayment agreement with you. If a mutually acceptable agreement can be made, we will always be ready to re-consider our decision to take you to court
If agreement cannot be reached, court action will be taken. We will tell you when this decision is made and the type of court order we will ask for. You will also be told the date of the court hearing and asked to attend. Again, our attempts to reach an agreement without involving the courts will continue
At the court hearing, we will normally ask the court to award a Suspended Possession Order against you. This will require you to pay a weekly sum off your arrears, which will be set by the courts
If the court agrees to our request, we will then monitor your payments to make sure you keep to the Order. Should you fail to make the payments, we will return to the courts for a warrant to evict you from your home
If you feel that our action is not fair, you can appeal by writing to our Chief Executive
If the warrant is granted, you can apply to the court to have the warrant dropped or suspended if you feel the action is unfair, unnecessary or illegal
If the court agrees to our request, we will arrange to take possession of your home. Even at this stage, there will be the opportunity for you to stop the action, but we will now require full payment of your arrears. If you pay the full amount, we will stop the possession action. If you do not, you will be evicted

Dealing with Debt

Many people have trouble paying their rent and other bills. Many have also found out that the best way to deal with debt is to get to grips with the problem. The longer you leave it, the worse it can get. We have put together a Dealing with Debt Pack and Personal Budget Planner to try to help you to budget which is available from the Information Services area of the site. Use it like this:

Decide if you are going to base your budget on weekly or monthly figures - don’t mix the two
Write in your income. Include your usual take-home pay (don’t include overtime unless it’s regular), any benefits you receive and contributions from family members
Work out and write down your usual living costs. Don’t include any debts at this stage, payments for arrears or any credit payments. Your usual living costs could include things like food, milk, papers, sweets, toiletries, cleaning materials, cigarettes and a small amount for entertainment and other expenses. Under ‘Other’, include something for unexpected expenses like birthdays and Christmas. Be honest!
If your outgoings are greater than your income, you should seek advice otherwise you debts could continue to grow
Now list your debts, putting the priority debts first. Your priority debts are the most important and you must make offers of repayment on these first
Contact your Housing Officer and show them your financial position. We will be able to tell you if there are any benefits that you should be claiming or put you in touch with someone who can
You can now agree a small sum towards your arrears each week. It’s best to pay a little often, rather than a big one-off payment as they can cause more problems