Have missed some rent - Where do we stand?!

[LariyahSpen]

Hi Mums netters

I hope someone can give me some advice

Myself, my partner (who is currently the main bread winner( and my 16 month old moved into our new rented house at the start of May. All standing orders were set up for the first of each month and we have a separate account for all bills and rent, my partner basically pays most of his salary into this account every month to cover everything.

Anyway we rarely check this account and just leave it ticking over, having always done this previously it seems to of worked.

We get a call last week from our agency to tell us that last months rent bounced but this month has been paid and so we are now £950 in arrears with our rent. At first we thought this couldn't be true having not been notified by our bank that a payment had bounced and knowing we had set up all the standing order especially as it had been successfully paid for this month.

Looking at the account we found out that our old agency had taken rent from us when they shouldn't of meaning the payment to our new agency had bounced (there was not enough money to cover both payments in the account)

We called our old agency who apologised and said it was a mistake and that they would transfer the money directly back. Which they did. We told our current agency what had happened and they were quite understanding but just said obviously we would need to pay the rent outstanding a asap. Now when our old agency paid back the rent they had wrongly taken, other bills came out of the account leaving us with only £500 left. Our rent is £950.

My partner went in and spoke to our current agency and said he would pay as much as he could, this was last Thursday and he paid the £500. Obviously now they want the rest of it which is £450. They have called just now and left me a msg saying they need to know when we will be paying.

Me and my partner live on barely any thing as it is, he does not have a job which can support us really and we do get tax credits but it's really not much and we struggle each month, which I know most people do. However we always pay our rent, council tax and bills and just live on nothing but now we are needing to find £450 from thin air basically. We don't have anyone who can help us financially and we don't have overdrafts or credit cards, neither of us have great credit.

I'm really worried. I know we are now in breach of our contract which I have no experience or what that means. I feel sick everyday because I know we can't find the money but obviously our landlord will want his money and we have signed a contract and therefore tough sh** basically we will have to find it.

But honestly there is no way we can get hat kind of money together. I have a job I work on Wednesdays and Saturdays and get about £400 a month for but I won't get the money until the 25th. If I give them all the wages I have we will just have zero to live on and any bills due out around that time won't be paid. We are just in a shit situation basically.

I just wanted some advice basically. It's such a shame because we really wanted to stay in this house long term but doubtful the landlord will be keen now.

Can he chuck us out? Or serve us a notice?
What can I do?

I'm at my wits end

Any help would be appreciated

I will be going back to work full time
In March as well which will help us out massively just hope our landlord will still want us to live here after all this...

Do you have anything you can sell?

As I said, if there's a plan and you are otherwise good tenants , your landlord will want to keep you .

Have you had a look at: www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/startcalc.aspx ? Your post doesn't say if you have any children but if you haven't could you work more hours or get a second job? Is this the first month's rent due because being short almost half the rent won't give the letting agent or landlord any faith in your ability to pay the arrears and the next month's rent.

Were you aware the electricity bill was going to come out on that date, and be that high?

If not, call your bank and recall the money. You can then pay the rent, which is a priority debt, and work out a payment plan with the electric company. They'll be happy to do so, especially as it's for an old property.

Are you able to return to FT work any earlier? You sound like you are living hand-to-mouth at the moment, and that's not a good thing.

I have a rental property and if you were my tenant l would want to hear from you pretty fast if there was a problem, not wait till my agent told me.

Call your landlord NOW and be clear, calm and concise as to the unexpected bills/ previous agent mistake and give the landlord a clear weekly payment plan of what you can afford...make sure you stick to it without fail.

Explain it is a one off and why ( going back to work full time)

If you deal with it this way most reasonable landlords will understand...life and bills happen......and give you a chance to sort it, if you communicate clearly with them and stick to what you say you will do.

They probably won't give you two chances if you get into arrears again though.

It sounds like you need to increase your income somehow or any little unexpected bill will put you back in the same situation.
Can you do a day/night of part time work to give you a cushion of cash to save for emergencies? Computer based casual work to do whilst looking after Dc?

Well done for avoiding payday lenders that is NOT the answer.

Good luck

For the future, keep a log of your bills.

I have a spreadsheet I started when I was a student, detailing all bills and upcoming payments for the month. It's simple, just a list of dates amounts and the account they come out of.

I colour each cell green once it's been paid or it stays red, and I check my account every day. That stops any surprises.

Most of my friends don't monitor their bills and get into the kind of situation you're in. I lived with housemates who were happy to just wait for a water or electric bill to show up. You can actually ask your suppliers to spread the cost, there's no reason to pay off big chunks at once. I had our water bill and council tax cut down to a set amount each month, and this was adjusted if we used more than they estimated we would.

It is easy to do. Take back control, and you'll avoid bank charges for good.

If the bank charges are because the old agency took money in error then you need to ask them to cover the cost of their mistake and compensate you for those charges and any interest.

Good luck sorting things out, it's awful when things suddenly go wrong with money.

Amazing! Thanks for everyone's advice and help on this I really appreciate it.

My partner went in and spoke to the agency this afternoon and said they seemed fine just wanted to know when it would all be paid. We have given them a date and will be making payments every week until it's cleared.

This month will be the tightest of my life!

I would love to deal with our LL directly but we only deal with the agency it's managed solely by them and has been since day one.

Having my 16 month old I can't work full time atm and have managed to get childcare on a Wednesday and Saturday but I have asked for more hours because I am happy to work to take the pressure off financially.

Thanks again

Well done! Most agencies will be fine if you do as you have and keep them in the picture. Your partner going in will have assured them that you are doing your best.

In terms of getting through with a bit more cash, have you anything you could Ebay or sell on Facebook?

Make sure the old agency gets billed for all bank charges you incurred due to their mistake!

Thank you so much

We have contacted old agency.

I am trying to sell some things on eBay as we speak

Just a thought. Was the electric bill for your old property an 'actual' meter reading or an 'estimate'? When we moved out of our last house, despite giving them actual meter readings, they generated an estimated (more expensive) bill. We queried it and got the money back, so perhaps double check just in case?