Rent to council- they want an extra month because others can't pay?!

[YouCantTourniquetTheTaint]

Hiya, my DM is a council tenant. She got a call yesterday about her rent. She pays on time and pays in full. She is not in arrears.

The call she got today from the council, and they are now expecting council tenants to have a month of rent paid on top of their rent so a month's extra. And its because other tenants can't/aren't/won't pay their rent.

Does this sound correct? Surely they would need to change the contract she has with the council? The council is in trouble however why should she have to pay more because other people aren't paying their rent?

It just seems odd. She is 68 and is being made redundant next month so she really doesn't need this. Any advice?

Please tell me they didn’t ask for her bank details! It really doesn’t sound right.

I will double check that tomorrow with. Oh god I hope it isn't a scam

Sounds unlikely. If correct, she’d have had letters in advance of any phone calls. Is there a tenants association where she lives?

I don't knowhow council houses/flats work but is there a maintenance fee? Could that be what they are talking about? There's often small print that if they cannot tevocer maintenance fees from all tenants in the building then the cost is split between the remaining residents....maybe she misunderstood...grasping at straws here!

I owned a flat in a building with about 400 flats, many owned by people living overseas and they didn't bother to pay the factors fees. The contract with the factor stated that other residents would need to split the unpaid fees and pay them ourselves. The factor would continue the legal fight and refund if they got the money but with the owners being abroad, we never got a penny back.

If it's not a maintenance thing and they actually want another months full rent then get in Twitter and start tweeting at them about It! That'll get something done maybe.

Perhaps they’re moving the payments from being paid in arrears to being paid in advance? That’d have the effect of paying twice in one month but you’d still be paying the same amount overall.

Is it 13 4 weekly payments instead of 12 monthly payments?

Seems a bit suspicious that they'd make contact by phone? As a PP said you'd expect letters in advance of anything.

Make sure she knows not to share any personal info over the phone and that not to call back on any numbers they provide to her - contact the council using numbers on the council website.

It’s a scam!!!

Do they mean rent in advance rather than just on time. Bringing it more into line with private landlords?

I work in Housing Benefit and probably about six months ago we got a load of letters from customers from their housing associations switching from weekly in advance to monthly in advance.

So it could be right and not a scam 🤷‍♀️ They would need to change your contract though.

I imagine they are switching to payments in advance.

I've heard of councils doing this in preparation for people being switched over to Universal Credit where they have a 5/6 week wait on their benefits so they're trying to get tenants to get a month ahead with rent so they don't struggle to pay it during that month (I.e. so the council still get their money during that month).

so they're trying to get tenants to get a month ahead with rent so they don't struggle to pay it during that month

doesn't matter if they struggle to eat!

If they're moving to advance payments they probably don't need to change the tenancy as most tenancy agreements will state rent due in advance but where Hb has been paid direct to the LA/HA the rent in advance hasn't been enforced.

I had that with out HA. When the payments were made direct to them and they knew you were on full HB they knew the payments were coming. When it changed to the tenants receiving the money direct for most people they started chasing for the rent a month in advance. I received letters phone calls and then a home visit. The whole process made me really anxious and the letters mentioned stuff about a notice to seek possession if I didn't get ahead with payments. I am on ESA for a long term health condition and simply didn't have the money and they allowed me to pay a bit extra each week to get ahead but it wasn't easy and left me struggling to budget. I try very hard to keep it ahead but occasionally I am floored by a bill or something like needing to get to a hospital appointment and it drops a bit and the letters start coming again. I was told that the introduction of UC was one of the reasons behind it as people couldn't pay while they waited for their first payment. I wonder if this is what your Mum was told and maybe misunderstood?

Sounds correct to me but poorly explained.

They probably aren't asking for an extra month. They are asking for her to pay in advance.

This is likely to be in her tenancy agreement but until recent years it hasn't needed to be pushed, but because of changes it now does need to be adhered to.

The basis will be, that however your mum pays, her account should never fall in to arrears between payments.

For example..

If she pays on the 1st is the month, she should be at a £0 balance on that day, and be paying enough to take her up to the 30th/31st of that month.

What she shouldn't be doing is having rent charged through the month, then clearing it on the 1st

I pay in advance makes it easier and no arrears ever

Apparently its because she pays via DD, she phoned the council because she got a text from them.

Its because if you pay via DD they want a month in advance. Its a new rule apparently. Due to UC. Which she doesn't get.

She pointed out that when she and dad (now dead) signed the contract it didn't mention this and my dm can be shit hot so she's paying an extra £40 per month until she has a months rent in advance.

It was explained shit to me, thankfully nothing nefarious. Just a bit of miscommunication. Phew. Thank you