What Causes Rent Arrears?

Late payments
Missed payments
Part-payments

What should I do if I have Rent Arrears?

You need to pay them as quickly as possible – ideally in one payment, to clear the whole amount and then make payments every week to keep your account clear. However, we realise this is not always possible. If you cannot do this, you should contact us to make an agreement to repay the money you owe. This agreement should be at a level that you can afford to pay each week.

If you know you are going to have difficulty paying your rent or keeping to your agreement, you should contact your Housing Income Team immediately as we may be able to help.

If you do have problems, you should keep us informed. Please do not ignore your arrears or any letters from us, as this may result in us taking you to court and ultimately you may lose your home.

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What should I do if I think there is a mistake on my rent account?

If you think there has been a mistake, you should contact us. We will be able to examine your rent account and resolve any problems. If a payment is not showing on your account, you will need to bring (or send) your receipt into the office so we can ensure that the correct amount is paid to your account.

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What should I do if I am waiting for Housing Benefit to be paid?

If you are waiting for Housing Benefit to be paid, you should tell us. Housing Benefit claims should be sorted out within four to six weeks of the Housing Benefit office receiving your claim form and all the required supporting documentation. The Tenancy Support Team can calculate whether you will be entitled to Housing Benefit and can advise you what to pay until your claim is processed. We will not usually take legal action against you if we know you are waiting for your claim to be sorted out, and you are making payments but you may still receive letters from us regarding your arrears. Remember that Housing Benefit will not pay for water rates or heating charge or any other ineligible charges if this is included with your rent – you will still have to pay these yourself.

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What should I do if I cannot pay my rent?

If you are having difficulty paying you rent, you should contact us as soon as possible. We may be able to help or refer you to our Tenancy Support Team, or other local advice agencies, such as Bridge Housing Advice, or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. All agencies provide advice on benefit entitlement and how you can maximise your income.

If you do have problems, please contact us before we start taking legal action against you. If we don’t know that there is a problem, we can’t help you. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away.

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What are Non Collection weeks?

Rent is charged on a weekly basis, to your rent account each Monday. There are 48 rent paying weeks each year with four non-collection weeks. There is one in April, one in August and two at Christmas and New Year. The financial year runs from the beginning of April to the end of March.

Only those tenants who have a clear rent account will not have anything to pay during the non-collection weeks. If you are in arrears, you must continue to pay your arrears in line with your agreement during the non-collection weeks. Although no rent will be charged.

During the Financial Year, you will receive statements of your rent account showing your rent charges and payments along with any outstanding balance at that time.

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What is Housing Benefit? How do I apply?

Housing Benefit is help for anyone on a low income who pays rent. The amount you get depends on the size of your household, how much your rent is and how much income and savings you have. To apply simply complete a form available from our offices or contact the Housing Benefit Section.

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What will CNH do if I do not clear my arrears?

If you do not clear your arrears or keep to your payment agreement we will take legal action to recover your debt. We will do this once we have taken other reasonable steps to recover the debt. Our first step will be to write to you and visit you to discuss your arrears and to make an agreement. If you do not keep to your agreement, or clear your arrears, we will serve a Notice of Seeking Possession or Notice of Proceeding for Possession on you. This is a legal notice telling you that we intend to take legal action if you do not pay your arrears.

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What should I do if I receive a Notice on my Tenancy?

Notice is the first step to you losing your home and means we are considering legal action. You have 28 days to contact us to make an agreement to pay your arrears. Contact us as soon as you receive the Notice, it is not too late to avoid further action. If you do not contact us and your arrears are not reducing, we will consider Court action, which can result in you losing your home. If you fail to contact us, we will contact you to discuss your circumstance. If you are not available at home, it is essential that you contact us for an interview.

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If we do ask you to come in for an interview, please attend it so we can help you. If you cannot attend on the interview date, please contact us to arrange another time.

When will Court action be taken?

If you do not pay off your arrears we will write to tell you that we intend to take court action. We also offer help on benefits and money management. A legal Notice will be issued telling you that we intend to ask the Court to end your tenancy if:

You do not contact us to discuss your situation
The level of arrears is increasing
You fail to keep to any arrangements you have made with us

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What happens at a Court hearing?

If we have applied to court we will write and advise you of the date, time and place of the hearing which we advise you to attend.

At the court hearing the Judge will listen to the facts from both parties and decide whether to grant a possession order and a money judgement order. As well as putting your home at risk, the County Court Judgement (CCJ) may affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.

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What happens if I am a joint tenant and one of us leaves the property?

As joint tenants, you are both responsible for the property and for the payment of the rent. If one of you leaves the property, the remaining tenant must pay the full rent. If this happens, you should tell us and the Housing Benefit Section (if you receive housing benefit).

You should speak to your Tenancy & Estate Management Officer about how to get the tenancy into your sole name or to remove your name from the tenancy.

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Former Tenant Arrears

When giving up your tenancy, you should ensure that your rent account is clear.

If you are unable to clear your rent account, we will still expect you to repay them after you have gone. We will contact you during your notice period to discuss repayment, and we will try to speak to you when you hand in your keys.

After you have left, if your arrears are not being paid, we will write to you to request payment. If payments are not made, the case will be referred to a Debt Collection Agency who will write and visit you to recover the debt. We will also consider legal action to recover any outstanding rent arrears. If you owe arrears from a former tenancy, this may prevent you from being re-housed by us or another landlord in the future.

For further information please contact us on 0800 6335548 or by email: housing.income@cnh.org.uk

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