Get help with your rent or service charge payment
We are here to help you to be able to stay in your home. If making payments is a problem, you need to work with us to resolve things. If you're in arrears with your rent or service charges, get in touch with us straight away.
Telephone: 01582 546620
When you call we will:
- discuss whether you're entitled to benefits
- help you with claims
- refer you to a money advisor if you think that might help
- discuss the best way for you to pay your rent or service charge
- make an agreement for you to pay the arrears in instalments
If you still cannot pay your rent or service charge
If you continue to owe rent, we'll serve a notice warning of legal action. If the arrears persist we can take you to court and ask the court to evict you. We'll also ask for a County Court Judgment (CCJ) which will affect your credit rating.
For full details, read our rent arrears policy.
If you do not pay your service charge we can take action against you. If you still do not pay us, we can apply for a Forfeiture Order to repossess your home.
If you are in arrears for your garage rent
Where rent accounts are in arrears and the tenant has failed to clear them despite having been notified, Housing Services will serve a ‘notice to quit’ on the garage.
If the account is not cleared at the expiry of the notice to quit the locks may be changed on the garage. The tenant will be given notice to remove any belongings remaining in the garage, after which they will be disposed of and the garage will be re-let.
Housing Services will endeavour to recover from the former tenant the cost of changing the garage lock and removing items from the garage.
If a tenant dies and there are rent arrears outstanding
A claim is made against the estate. If there is no estate, we may consider writing off the debt.
Where debt is found to be uncollectible for any reason – for example, age or type of debt, it will be considered for write off. All write offs must be agreed by the finance service director.