Helena Housing aims to be firm but fair when dealing with rent arrears. We will work with you to make sure you are able to pay your rent. As a tenant, you must make paying your rent a priority. Non-payment of rent means that you run the risk of losing your home.
Rent is due on the Monday of each week and should always be paid in advance. If you pay your rent monthly you need to pay it all in advance.
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Housing benefit is help towards paying your rent. It does not matter if you are in work, unemployed or retired or whether you receive other benefits, you can still make a claim and may get some help. Claim forms can be obtained from the Council’s housing benefit office, Lincoln House, in the town centre, or at any Helena Housing office .
Advice on all benefits is available from the in-house Welfare Benefits Officer; contact your rent officer for more details. We aim to offer emergency appointments within five working days. Details of other advice agencies are at the end of the page.
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If you do not pay your rent you could lose your home. Helena Housing will tell you if you miss any payments. The following section describes the actions Helena Housing will take to recover any rent arrears.
Stage 1 - Reminder letter
If you miss a rent payment or are paying less than you should, you will receive a reminder letter asking you to make up the payments. At this point, if for any reason you cannot do this, you must contact your rent officer immediately. If you owe rent, it may affect your priority for a transfer to another home.
- Contact us now if you are struggling – don’t let things build up. We are here to help.
Stage 2 – Second letter
If after the first reminder you do not pay your arrears or if your arrears continue to rise, you will be sent a second letter. This will again ask you to pay your arrears or contact your rent officer . If we don’t hear from you immediately on receipt of the letter, we will serve a “Notice” on you.
- Things are becoming a problem. Don’t ignore it, get help from us now.
Stage 3 – Notice being served
If your arrears still remain unpaid, then you will be served with a notice explaining that Helena Housing intends to commence legal proceedings to gain possession of your home.
- If you don’t act now you will end up in court and your debt will increase.
Stage 4 – Possession Order
If the matter is referred to court, we will apply for a “Possession Order”. You will be informed of any court date by letter. At court you may be given a “Postponed Possession Order” which means you must pay off your arrears by making a weekly payment, additional to your rent, as well as being charged court costs which are at present in excess of £200.
In some circumstances we may ask for an “Outright Possession Order” in which case we will be able to take possession of your home within a specified time.
If a county Court Judgment (CCJ) is made against you, this may affect your ability to get credit in the future, including a mortgage, credit card or loan.
- If you don’t act now you could lose your home.
Stage 5 – Warrant of eviction
After a “Possession Order” is granted Helena Housing can apply for a “Warrant” to evict you from your home. This is the last resort if all other attempts to recover the arrears have failed. You will be notified of the date of eviction. You have the right to apply to have the Warrant suspended.
- If you are evicted, you may be deemed “intentionally homeless” and may have difficulty in finding somewhere else to live
From April 2006 to March 2007 Helena Housing took 313 tenants to Court for not dealing with their rent arrears. From this number 76 tenants were evicted from their homes. If you are having problems paying your rent contact us and set up a payment plan.
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If at any point, you are in rent arrears and cannot pay them all off at once, you must contact your rent officer as soon as possible. They can be contacted by telephone, letter or in person. We can arrange home visits if this is more convenient for you.
Arrangements can be made to pay off arrears in instalments according to your circumstances. The important thing is that you make that contact to set up a payment plan and then once it’s in place, stick to it.
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Below are some case studies of people from different walks of life who have all got behind with their rent. They explain what could happen if they ignore letters telling them that they are in rent arrears.
As you will see, often a simple phone call to a rent officer is all it takes to start clearing the arrears you may have built up.
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His situation: “I’ve been unemployed since the electrical company I worked for closed six months ago. Since then I’ve been struggling to meet my rent payments as I only receive partial housing benefit. I am hoping that the people from Housing Benefit will sort out these issues.” Chris, 26, Thatto Heath
Option 1: Ignoring the Situation
Chris carried on with his day to day life. However he failed to contact Helena Housing about the problem of his growing arrears. He ignored the letters he received from Helena, and would not return messages on his phone until finally Helena Housing obtained a court order against him. Chris ignored the problem of this arrears for so long that he could no longer afford to make any repayments.
- He has been evicted from his home with the burden of a very large debt.
Option 2: Contacting Helena Housing
Chris decided to speak to his rent officer to ensure that Housing Benefit had contacted Helena Housing. To Chris’ surprise, his rent officer was able to help him complete a housing benefit form and four week later Housing Benefit contacted him to inform him he was entitled to full housing benefit and back pay from the date he became employed.
- Chris is now in a position to pay off any arrears owing to Helena Housing and he can focus his attention on finding new work in the area.
If you find yourself in a similar situation to Chris, contact us .
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Her situation: “I have three children under the age of 16. I find it really difficult to pay my rent because I’ve also got debts with a couple of catalogue companies. I’m also finding it tough to meet the costs of raising my young children. To cap it all I’ve just received a letter from Helena Housing telling me that I owe them £175 rent.” Tina, 35, Haydock
Option 1: Ignoring the Situation
Tina ignored the letter from Helena as she was more concerned about paying the money she owed to the catalogue companies. Her debt to Helena increased and she missed payments again as she was paying off the interest on her other debts. Tina continued to have serious problems as her rent arrears and other debts got out of control. Helena Housing obtained a court order against her which increased her debts further still due to court costs.
- Tina is still ignoring the situation and within six weeks she will receive and eviction date.
Option 2: Contacting Helena Housing
As soon as Tina received the letter she contacted the rents team at Helena about the problems she was facing paying her rent and other debts. One of Helena’s rent officers helped Tina complete an income and expenditure form to see what payments were possible. He found that Tina had multiple debts and he referred her to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau where a specialist advisor prioritised her debts. He also dealt with creditors to negotiate writing off part of the debt.
- Tina now has sufficient income to pay her rent and avoid eviction from her family home.
If you find yourself in a similar situation to Tina, contact us .
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His situation: “I recently had an accident at work which has affected my ability to drive. I’ve had some time off but since I returned to work I’ve had to take taxis there and back. Ultimately the cost of this travel has been affecting my ability to pay my rent. I have now missed my rent payments because other bills came in – I’ve even received a letter from Helena Housing saying that I’m two weeks in arrears” Simon, 28, Clock Face
Option 1: Ignoring the Situation
Simon ignored the letter hoping that next month he could catch up with his arrears. Other bills kept coming in and Simon failed to pay his rent again. He continually missed his rent payments and ignored any correspondence from Helena. Simon eventually ended up in Court with an additional £219.50 court costs added to his already large arrears.
- As a result of this Simon isn’t able to pay for his taxis into work and left his job, receives a reduced income on job seekers allowance and is still carrying a large debt.
Option 2: Contacting Helena Housing
As soon as Simon received the letter, he phoned one of the rent officers who then referred him to the Welfare Benefits Officer at Helena Housing. After a visit to Simon’s home to assess his circumstances, the Welfare Benefits Office helped Simon complete a claim for Disability Living Allowance. This claim was successful and the amount of money he received now covers the cost of the taxis Simon uses to get to work.
- Simon is able to continue working and pay his full rent and bills.
If you find yourself in a similar situation to Simon, contact us .
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Her situation: “I’ve been a tenant with Helena for 2 years. My partner left me 3 months ago and now I can’t meet my rent payments to Helena Housing or the repayments on my credit card and council tax.” Fiona, 45, Newton-Le-Willows
Option 1: Ignoring the Situation
Fiona ignored the letters and cards sent by the rent officer as she tried to manage her limited money. She paid her council tax and credit card bills but not her rent. When she received the Notice informing her of possible court action she paid a little bit of rent but then her next credit card bill arrived. Eventually a court order was obtained which included a County Court Judgement for the arrears. This affected Fiona’s credit rating and reduced her access to cheap credit.
- Fiona has been evicted with a large debt that Helena Housing is passing to a debt collection agency to pursue.
Option 2: Contacting Helena Housing
Fiona contacted her rent officer to explain why she couldn’t pay her rent that week. The rent officer called to see her in her home and carried out an income and expenditure assessment which broke down Fiona’s debts into priority – rent, council tax etc. and non priority – credit cards, unsecured loans etc. The rent officer gave her a debt pack which allowed her to contact her creditors while also contacting council tax to arrange the single person discount as Fiona was now the only adult in the house.
- Fiona is now able to meet her rent payments as well as paying a weekly amount off her arrears.
If you find yourself in a similar situation to Fiona, contact us .
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The Rents Team is available to all customers who have queries about the ways you can pay your rent and what to do if you get behind with your rent.
The team have an excellent track record in helping people to manage their money so they don’t get into rent arrears in the first place and/or build up other debts. For those people who are already behind with their rent, there is a lot of support available including checks into whether you are claiming all of the benefits and allowances you might be entitled to.
If you are in need of advice or guidance relating to paying your rent or dealing with your arrears, you can contact a member of the rents team on 01744 671570.
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