Haven’t paid rent in months!

[Uppoopcreek]

I’ve just realised I haven’t paid my rent in around 6 months! I don’t know how this could have happened?
ive lived here around 4 years. All I can think is I set up a standing order a while ago and it didn’t work properly?
now, I have pretty severe MH problems. Awful anxiety and depression(probable ADHD but still waiting for an appointment to start the process). I never check my bank, I’m behind with other bills, too. I’m a bury my head in the sand type of person, but worry constantly about everything, About a month ago I hit rock bottom. Won’t go into details, but it wasn’t great.
I have 3 DC, and I’m on benefits.
Help! What do I do?! Had a text from landlord last night asking me to call him, which is what’s just prompted me to look now. I was asleep when he text.

“The col has absolutely crippled me.”

I find it hard to believe you haven’t checked your bank account in 6 months especially as you say you’re feeling the col. Would you not be regularly checking how much money you have available, check your benefits have gone in? If you are struggling with bills etc but not paying rent wouldn’t the bills come out because there’s money in the account which should of gone for rent? Either that or you would of had a build up of rent money but how do you spend all that without noticing each month, spending hundreds extra every month on food or whatever wouldn’t that prompt you to check your bank?

There are a fair few court cases from 2020 onwards that would disagree with you.

She is 100% not breaking the law.
It's only illegal to openly exclude people on benefits. It's not illegal to have eligibility criteria based on income, credit rating, references etc.

Unless she openly states she's not renting to people because they are on benefits she's not doing anything against the law. This legislation is pointless and not enforceable in real life.

Fair enough @Allofthelightsss. I don't really want to deal with the benefits guys even if it can be paid directly. I want to keep my life simple.

Best advice: be honest with him.
Don't make excuses - just be honest with the fact that you set up a standing order and it was only his text that made you check. Say you're very sorry, pay what you can now (even if it's just fifty quid) and make an appointment with Citizens Advice or a similar organisation to talk about what you can do to sort out your debt and finances (there's an evangelical church around my way who do amazing work helping people with debt and finances regardless of their faith).

You'll obviously have to make some sort of arrangement to pay. But it happens. Try not to worry - it's a lot more common than you think.

The most important thing is to deal with this asap, be frank to Citizens Advice or whoever and be prepared to make some changes. It's crucial now to not fall further behind.

A blanket refusal to rent to anyone on UC is unlawful. However people get around that by filtering criteria etc is up to them, it doesn’t mean that it’s legal.

The person I was referring to posted online that they would not rent to people on benefits - I would say that’s openly stating a fact.

Agree it may be hard to enforce, but it remains unlawful.

Perhaps you should keep up with recent renting laws. The renters right bill is not law, it's being debated in Parliament.

Reforms for renters - Shelter England

So if you haven't paid loads of bills for months, the money will be there and you can simply pay all that you owe. Easy.

Why am I not surprised? So you have spent thousands of pounds without realising it. Really? Sorry to be harsh, but managing your bank account is a basic part of life. Your guarantor won't be happy.

Unfortunately the OP has spent it all without realising too 🤣

While that legislation is still being debated, it’s The Equality Act that could be used. I assume because women and disabled people are most likely to be on benefits and therefore affected?

It is more tricky if it is a private landlord and not a letting agency. The new bill covers both I believe.

@OneSparklyHelper
You sound lovely !
Such unhelpful comments are best kept to yourself 🙄

Don't panic, you can apply for a discretionary housing payment to pay off the arrears. Also offer to pay your rent and and extra £20 or so every time while you wait for it. If you are on benefits can't you ask to have your rent paid directly to your landlord?

At the time I was not justifting anything. I was in a black hole and was not thinking straight.

I'm now recounting my experience having learnt from it. There was nothing deliberate at the time. I was barely surviving with thoughts of harming myself constantly. My kids were my only light in a very dark time. It was quite literally the only thing keeping me alive. I was not thinking straight. I wasn't sitting there weighing up whether I should pay my rent or new shoes for them.

I can't speak candidly about it now because I've come a very long way from who I was. It doesn't make my behaviour ok but it doesn't make you right in what you're saying. Thank your lucky stars you have never been in such a place as this is how you react to your mental health taking over. Depression doesn't work the same for everyone. It not a one size fits all. And it's not an excuse. Its a reason. I faced up to the consequences, I put on the hard work and I got myself out of a hole. It took years.

I'm glad you have no idea how it feels to be in the same situation, to have no understanding or no compassion for how others suffer. It makes you a damn site more fortunate than I ever was.

People who react like this to something they have no experience of are not only ignorant, but they're the type of people who should steer clear of anyone who ever suffers with MH issues as all they'll ever do is try and tear them down. I've come far enough to know how very wrong you are, even though you'll think otherwise, of course.

That's not how the law works.
Her having ulterior motives or even admitting them on forum does not make her actions illegal.
It's illegal to:
*Refuse someone on benefits to apply for a property.

• Refuse to rent property to someone who passed eligibility checks due to them receiving top up benefits.

Having eligibility criteria is not illegal.

There isn't, and my children wear plenty of supermarket branded clothing now. But going back I wasn't thinking logically. My life had fallen apart and I had a very misguided way of looking at things.

So this absent mindedness just happens to coincide with the landlord dying and his father taking over, just pure coincidence? I really hope it’s not as suspicious as it looks.

Time to get a grip on your finances OP, phone your landlord, see if he will agree to let you pay it back in instalments, and keep track of your back from now on, you don’t have the luxury of being a “head in the sand” type person when it comes to keeping a roof over your kids head. You need to learn to budget. I’ve been there, I know it’s not easy, but it is absolutely necessary.

I'm guessing that your standing order went to his son's account until it was closed on completion of probate after 18 months or so.

That might be why it stopped and didn't notice.
Hopefully you can resolve this if you can show it's a genuine mistake, and come to an agreement to pay the money back.

Totally agree.
Be an adult and manage your finances.

That’s because those people were idiots 😂

It’s so easy to “discriminate” and just not rent to anyone on benefits. Pretty much all landlords do it and get away with it. Nothing you can do.

I don’t recall saying it was?

The poster who I was referring to said she would refuse to rent to anyone on benefits. Full stop. Nothing about them meeting the eligibility criteria, or are you assuming nobody on benefits could possibly meet the criteria?

I’ll use myself as an example. I work full time, receive a UC top up and have children. I meet all of the eligibility criteria - 30 x monthly rent in income, good credit history, references, no CCJs or defaults. But because I receive UC, the poster wouldn’t rent to me. Legal or illegal?

You need to make a proper budget. This level of chaos and disorganisation has to be avoided in future for your children’s’ sakes honestly. You should have a budget and be able to see when you have a lot of money left (which you shouldn’t with a proper budget)..

I have a tenant who is on UC and also works. She is most reliable, sensible and always pays rent on time. I’m embarrassed to say she was initially low on my list of candidates but when a couple of others didn’t come through I went with her and haven’t regretted it. Equally, I am fully compliant with all the regulation and get repairs and improvements carried out in a timely way.

Agreed. It was complete madness. Many benefit claimants are perfectly able to manage their money (I once claimed benefits and I certainly could), but a significant number of people are on benefits due to issues that affect their ability to prioritise tasks and bills!

That policy change was nothing less than setting up those people to fail.

Am I the only person feeling sorry for the unknowing guarantor. My son is 26 and has ADHD and panic attacks at times and his grandad is his guarantor and son absolutely prioritises his rent ( which is high) as he wouldn't want to let his ( comfortably off) grandad down- he also prioritises council tax as one missed payment and you can end up with a judgement and the bailiffs round. Anything else if totally necessary can usually be caught up on and won't bugger your life up- but rent and council tax really can- I'm sorry you are having problems OP but if you do bugger all else, make sure those two get paid every month - for your kids sake too