Housing association chasing me for rent,do I have to pay?

[fireburningss]

I rent my property through a h/a in the north east.
My rent is £480 a month (which includes water rates -they pay direct to Northumbrian water )
At the moment I am working part time.
I checked my rent account (stupidity never check) and I was £700in credit
After going through my account I seen over two years two payments from Northumbrian water for £222
I rang Northumbrian water who said they couldn't discuss my account but could tell me the housing association applied for a water bill reduction as I'm on low income .
They didn't tell me
So I've been paying full water and they have the 50% discount from Northumbrian water
They told me h/a do this a lot.
So I worked out the money I had been paying when I shouldn't and deducted it
So I paid £350 rent this month (probs more than I should )
They rang saying I was £130 short and pay immediately.
I told them about the water discount and how they had been getting full water from me and the payments from the water company.
They said the money from Northumbrian water just builds credit on my rent but the water company said it's to help me out ,so I don't have to pay as much.
Is this correct ?

Sorry about the long winded question ha ha

Tbh, I would carry on paying full rent unless told otherwise...then ask CAB perhaps?

Totally agree with @Barrenfieldoffucks - you are risking your tenancy by going into arrears.

Agree with the pp - as much as they're barstards, you're in a very fortunate position which you don't want to risk by becoming intentionally homeless

Pay and speak to professionals

Pay the rent, but make a formal complaint to the HA, use your local councillor and submit a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman / Regulator.

Ask Northumbrian water to fit you a meter and pay your own water bills. Then ask the HA to deduct water bill amount from your rent account.

I work in Housing - please pay the full rent as per your contract.

And put in a complaint about not receiving the discount on your water bill that you are entitled to (the HA pays less water rates because you are on a low income so they should reduce your water charges due to this). The HA have 10 days from when you send them your complaint to respond. Put your complaint in via email so you can track the replies etc.

If you are not happy with their response, ask for your complaint to go to stage 2 of their complaints process. They have 20 days to review their decision and get back to you with their response.

If you are still not happy with their answer, take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman and provide the HAs stage 1 & stage 2 responses at the same time. They will not consider your complaint until you have gone through your own HAs complaint process.

You can have a look at the Ombudsmans rulings online to see if they have already had similar complaints as that will tell you what the likely outcome will be.

I would also dig out your last years rent notification letter which, by law, has to break down all the charges your HA is charging you for - make sure that you check the water charge part to make sure that the figure on the rental charge letter is the correct figure.

Id be really interested to find out what happens in your case - please keep us updated.

I'm in credit tho not arrears
Even paying this months rent short im still in credit
Why should they get half of the water refund and I still pay full
It seems slightly unfair

Legally you have to pay your rent in full at the rate in your tenancy agreement.

You need to address the water issue separately or they can start the eviction process.

@HaleyBrookeandPeyton but I am in credit
They have credited my rent account with the money but still want me to pay full water so my credit goes up and up
So really they have extra money from me that they are keeping

@Ihatelittlefriendsusan I don't think they can evict me when I'm in credit
Every Monday they deduct a weeks rent from my balance
So if I pay the rent short then I'm still in credit

Also every month when I pay my rent I have been paying a extra £3 too and I paid a week in advance when I moved in

Yes it’s completely unfair and they are being arses but please follow @HaleyBrookeandPeyton advice it’s about jumping through hoops and keeping your nose clean as per your contract at the moment. The formal complaint should sort it so you get a full refund.

@HaleyBrookeandPeyton love your user name I’ve wasted way too much of my life watching that show 😂

You need to pay your rent and deal with it separately.

@Billybagpuss I won't get a refund
It's on my rent account
It won't ever be money refunded to me
It's always going to be on the rent account

Yes, you have to pay.
🙄

She's not in arrears. That's the point.

She's nearly 2 months in credit. Most Ha ask for 1 month. So as long as at the end of each 4 week/ monthly cycle she's still in credit by 1 months rent they can't do anything.

I overpay mine each month to a round figure so come December I can pay less and this helps with Christmas.

I’d pay it this month and then complain to them to deal with it properly, hopefully you can pay less next month. You’ve got the rent money and you’ve signed a contract to pay it, so do that and then take the appropriate action.

@Billybagpuss
If you are already in credit, then they can't insist on you paying more. Just make sure that you are actually in credit though- ie if you pay monthly on the 1st, make sure that there is still a credit balance on the 31st of the month too as otherwise you aren't in true credit, just paying in advance.

But, you still must write a formal complaint to them using the process I explained earlier. That is the only 'proper' way to get this resolved.

Also, you can always request a 'true' credit to be refunded directly to you - they are not entitled to keep your money.

Please dig out your last 'notice of variation' letter (otherwise known as your yearly rent increase letter) to check what your water charge was for th past year.

If you dont mind sharing, who is your HA? Have you gone on the ombudsman page to find out if they have published any complaints about this already? Its a really good source of hosuing knowledge.

On my tenancy agreement it says
You must pay 1 week in advance when you start tenancy (which I have )
Then pay weekly ,fortnightly or monthly

So if it says must pay 1 week in advance
Why do I need to be a month in advance ?

If you have an agreement where the water rates are included with the rent then you should have a breakdown of charges. If the water rates are separate then it's not 'rent', the same way some HAs have district heating systems. The heating element is not rent.
So, for now, you pay the full amount, you send an email as detailed above and await their response. Technically, you are in arrears as you haven't paid the amount detailed on your tenancy agreement. If you had help with your rent, HB when that existed, or universal credit now, the amount calculated would only be based on the rent element, not water or heating etc. You would be responsible for that.
I hope that makes sense.

@Billybagpuss - I was giving you an example. If you pay weekly, you will always need to be a week in advance. If you pay monthly , for you to be in true credit, you will have a credit still on your account when you pay your next month's rent. If you don't, then you are not in true credit, as by the end of the month you will be in arrears.

Either way, you need to focus on complaining about the water charges as that's the important issue.

Do they give you a statement/breakdown saying that your rent is £X, plus your water bill is £Y, hence they've charged you £Z in total for the two?

If they don't, insist on them giving you one. Make them somehow tell you in writing how much they're taking for your water and ask them to confirm that this is the full cost that they're handing on to NW on your behalf; and then tell them that NW have confirmed that your bill is only half that - as THEY have claimed on your behalf - so insist they tell you how this came about and to confirm the balance that they owe you for their incompetence in handling your account.

As PP said, as annoying as it is, you have to treat the rent payment and the water element separately, so pay them as agreed for now.

This sounds like fraud on their part, tbh, but I'd approach it with them with the assumption that it's woeful incompetence - as that will make them smart even more.

I'd also tell them that you're going to raise this issue with your local paper/media and MP - and do so. You will be one of many and this 'problem' needs to be exposed and rectified. This is appalling behaviour from them - those discounts are for less privileged folk to be able to afford a basic essential; not for them to pilfer to boost their balance sheets.

Look it seems unfair but you can't just dock the rent and be done. You'll have to go through proper channels.

See it like an unfair parking ticket. Pay it and fight it after. Keeps you in the right