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Original poster

Rent arrears

170 replies

WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 15:12

I did post in legal but not had many responses...

Sorry if this is long... I moved into my house in 2017 after leaving a very bad relationship. My housing officer came round to sort the tenancy and while here, we filled in a housing benefit form together. She took all paperwork and evidence with her and told me she would take it all back and get it sorted out.
I know it is essentially my responsibility to make sure it was all done but it just didn't enter my head to check and I had no letters or anything to say otherwise.
I have now been served with a section 8 and have over £4000 Rent arrears.
I applied for DHP and was refused because they say I have £15 a month spare and can come to an arrangement confused social services have now opened a child protection plan as they say I've neglected my kids by risking their home and if I get evicted, they will house my children but not me.

I know I should have checked and made sure my hb had been set up correctly but I trusted my housing officer. Also how can a landlord let you get into £4000+ arrears before letting you know?

I have been to the CAB and they said there's nothing they can do to help as it is rent and is my fault no matter what the reasons are.

Does anyone know where I can go for advice/help? I stand to lose my children and my home and no one so far has been able to help me, except to say I need to pay it. I wish i could, but unfortunately I can't magic up that kind of money.

OP posts:
Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:11

They said I was eligible from the day I moved in, thats why i cant understand why my application for a discretionary housing payment was refused as it's money that would have been paid had it not have gone wrong somewhere

OP posts:
LIZS · 01/08/2019 18:11

Have they backdated your hb claim to clear at least some of the arrears now? Otherwise £20 will never clear it.

Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:15

They said they can only backdate 4 weeks which is just a drop in the ocean, really. I'm in a 2 bed with a 10 and 11 year old of opposite sex but I can't move until the arrears are cleared and at 20 a week, it's not going to happen any time soon. Ive just read about a debt relief order, so I'm going to look more into that now.

OP posts:
PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:15

@WhatNow1993

People keep asking you the sand question
Was this the shortfall you didn’t pay or was this the whole rent

What is your monthly rent on your house

ChotaPeg · 01/08/2019 18:16

As previous posters have said, contact Shelter ASAP. They will give you free legal advice and, with your consent, liaise with the HA to establish what has gone on here.

england.shelter.org.uk/get_help

LIZS · 01/08/2019 18:17

But if you were eligible from day one and can prove you made the claim the four weeks limit won't apply

PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:18

She has no proof

LIZS · 01/08/2019 18:19

But if you were eligible from day one and can prove you made the claim the four weeks limit won't apply. 4k over almost 2 years suggests that this was not full rent amount, so either you or hb were covering part.

Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:19

Ive already answered that question, it was for the full rent. I've also said 4k isn't the exact amount and 2 years isn't the exact time frame. I'm not at home with all the paperwork in front of me but have also said I will provide the statement when I am home. Although the problem I'm trying to solve is how I go about sorting it out not whether I clarified everything to the penny Confused

OP posts:
LIZS · 01/08/2019 18:22

Will Shelter not assist you with that? Even if it say 14 months is your full rent really less than £400 pcm?

wishingforapositiveyear · 01/08/2019 18:24

It's quite unusual for CP plan due to possible eviction. I don't really get why CAB aren't helping , surely if rent is now being paid and repayment plan they accepted means your not going to be evicted ? Have you been to court or have a court date?

LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood · 01/08/2019 18:26

I can tell you as regards the Child Protection Register there is something wrong with that. Either there is a misunderstanding and they are not on that but on some lower level of monitoring (child in need perhaps) or there is some other reason as well as the rent arrears. Your children will not go on the child protection register just for this reason alone. You do need to find out though.

I think it is hard to give advice as the situation seems so odd. I think you should see a solicitor. One specialising in legal aid children work (care) might be able to offer you a preliminary appointment (there is no such thing as being entitled to a free half hour). But many legal aid firms do offer it as they hope to keep your business should proceedings be issued and you become eligible for legal aid.

Good luck.

Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:27

To be honest, the whole situation is quite unusual. Maybe that's why I'm not getting anywhere with anyone as it doesn't sound like it could ever happen. But it has.

OP posts:
MuchTooTired · 01/08/2019 18:28

If it’s not too outing, whereabouts in the se are you? There are charities that have solicitors who specialise in helping tenants at risk of being evicted, and will go in to court with you to defend you, and talk you through your options.

Did you pay a deposit, and if you did has it been properly protected?

I’m sure you probably have already, but I’d do a full i&e for your household, to demonstrate how much you’re reasonably able to afford to pay towards your arrears, and put it in writing to them. I’d also mention something like as a goodwill gesture I’ve set up a standing order to pay x amount at x frequency beginning on x (maybe send a payment before you send the letter) so they can see you’ve acted in good faith.

lyralalala · 01/08/2019 18:28

You need to speak to Shelter. They’ll have dealt with this before and know housing laws and the rules around housing benefit inside out.

normally you can only backdate four weeks, but your situation is not a normal occurrence.

PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:29

Ok well I do apologise
I live in the SE and 2 bed HA or council homes are not usually only £200 per month in rent. I live in one myself

And as you are so vague I worry that you have not got the full amount of information and this is not going to help you get anything back if you don’t know what you should be asking for

It’s really unlikely you will get the council to repay you past 4 weeks. This doesn’t sound like it was their error as it was the Housing officer mistake with also not sending you any bills and they will just stick to that you didn’t check it and you are responsible.

The issue you need to sort is the HA and the repayments. You need to write to them formally and make a FOA request
You need to make a formal complaint to them
And also to the Housing Ombudsmen
You can then show your SW all the things you have done to sort this out
You also need to come to a more affordable repayment arrangement and find out from them if the eviction is still going ahead

Questions
Is the eviction still taking place
Can I rearrange the repayment order
I want access to all the info you hold on me
I want an answer how this happened and I had no bills

I understand the HO let you down but then this should have quickly within a month or 2 been flagged up

I know you are panicking but if you don’t know who to talk to or what to say then this is why you aren’t getting anywhere
You need a clear plan ^ as above

You don’t even know what kind of tenancy you have!
Sometimes you are on a year probation

NoWayDidISayThat · 01/08/2019 18:30

.

Boomboomboomboom · 01/08/2019 18:32

I'm struggling to make sense of this. Even on the lowest of social rents, £4k arrears would be racked up in the first year of a tenancy, not 2+ years.
It is your responsibility to ensure that HB applications are made and maintained but you would have a good argument against possession if the court accepted that the Housing officer took on the obligation to lodge your application.
In any event, the housing association must follow the pre-action protocol for rent arrears (google it) and if they are claiming ground 8 (mandatory- 8 weeks/2 months) they also have to comply with the parts of the protocol which relate to mandatory claims.
If you're right and the first you heard of it was the s8 notice , they are likely to be in breach which might impact on the order made. The court might also refuse to grant possession on reasonableness and/or proportionality grounds.
IME even with such ginormous arrears, if a judge accepts what you say, you stand a good chance of getting a suspended possession order, or an adjournment on terms- both of which mean no eviction if you stick to a repayment plan.
Social services might also make a payment of rent to help you keep your tenancy, although a big backdate of HB is unlikely.

PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:34

The issue with the council as the local authority for housing benefit is that this was not their mistake. They did not process something they didn’t receive and they have no obligation to check on you to see if you are eligible. They have also turned the DHP down so it isn’t as if they haven’t considered it but where they are not at fault I think you will have difficulty bypassing this. But if you get legal advice they will know

The onus was on you and your housing association as you are in the tenancy agreement with them.

Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:40

@PookieDo you're last post is pretty much on point and i do take responsibility to a certain extent but the question still remains, how does ANY landlord allow that amount of rent arrears to stack up before trying to recover It? That's what I can't get answered by anyone.

Im pretty sure it's an assured tenancy but I'd need to check. I moved here in quite horrible circumstances and I'll admit my head wasn't in the best place to deal with a move and everything that goes with it but it was necessary. This is why the housing officer said she'd help.

OP posts:
PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:44

I am not having a go at you

But from an outside perspective this looks like you had some letters in April and now it is August and you still don’t have any answers to these questions or what is happening to your home so you need to really change your tactic here and make a proper formal list, get some legal advice if you can and call shelter.

Go home today and get ALL your paperwork. Spend all weekend organising it. Read your tenancy. Phone shelter. Write letters and send them (or emails). You ness to be proactive. Don’t let this drag on

^ this could be what your social worker sees going on - Floundering around.

PookieDo · 01/08/2019 18:47

I know the system is horrible. I’ve been in it myself. I didn’t end up winning in a battle of a huge overpayment with the council for an error I never knew about and I had to pay it. They had ticked the wrong box on a form in 2008 and in 2014 realised what had happened and sent me a bill for £3000. But I exhausted all avenues trying to resolve it and paid it off over 3 years in the end. It was hard

Passthecherrycoke · 01/08/2019 18:47

I bet the reason the the arrears stacked up was as the Pp stated with clarion- your account came off system, either due to a poor/ broken It solution or because someone didn’t enter your tenancy into the housing system until recently. Both of these are possible, and are very poor practise, but don’t negate the debt

OP I know people are annoying you but I’m genuinely trying to understand- isn’t the threat of eviction over? They can’t evict you after the set up a payment plan

I don’t think a debt relief order will help. But you do need to understand why backdated HB can’t be paid

Original poster
WhatNow1993 · 01/08/2019 18:50

I can't go home today, my electric ran out this morning and I had to pay the £20 yesterday.

I know what you're saying that it may look like I'm floundering around but it's all been dropped on me and I've been left to sort it when I don't even know where to begin. Ive been into the council office more than once and CAB so it's not like I've just sat there and done nothing

OP posts:
LIZS · 01/08/2019 18:51

Surely you can drop by to collect the paperwork?

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