How Will I Pay My Rent?
You can pay your rent in many different ways. Visit our pay page for more information.
Unable to pay your rent?
Once you sign your tenancy agreement you are responsible for paying your rent on time. If you can’t pay your rent then please contact your arrears manager immediately. We can help you in the following ways:
- Give you confidential help and advice;
- Ensure you apply for housing and any other welfare benefits you may be entitled to;
- Agree a manageable repayment programme to clear your rent arrears;
- Refer you to a debt counselling advice agency – should you need this assistance.
You can contact the housing services team by telephone on 01233 330688 or email the housing team
Action against tenants that do not pay
We will undertake court action if you deliberately fail to pay your rent, or keep to an agreed payment plan. Court action will result in costs charged to your rent account and you will have a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you.
A CCJ will limit your ability to secure a loan, rental agreements and credit payment choices in future.
A court order, and eviction if you breach your payment contract, is a last resort. They will be used after you have had every opportunity to pay the outstanding sum or made a reasonable arrangement to do so.
Why you should avoid getting behind with your rent
If we evict you for rent arrears, and find that you are intentionally homeless, we do not have a duty to re-house you under homelessness legislation.
If we make an application to the County Court to recover rent arrears we will add the court costs to your rent account.
Once you have a CCJ against your name you lose your security of tenure and therefore the Right to Buy.
You may not be able to transfer home or complete a mutual exchange to another property.
We may not let a garage to you and we may end an existing garage tenancy if you have rent arrears.
We will provide an honest representation of your rent account conduct should a building society or another lending agent ask for a reference subject to your agreement. If your account is in arrears the reference may affect your ability to secure a mortgage.
We have moved to a 52 week year
From April 2016 we changed the way you pay rent. You now pay the annual rent over a 52 week year. This means you no longer have two non-charge/rent free weeks over the Christmas period.
Why did we do this?
From April 2016, the maximum weekly amount of housing benefit that can be paid towards renting a property (known as the Local Housing Allowance or LHA) is based on the number of bedrooms you and your family need. This doesn’t take into account a 50 week payment plan, so some of our tenants would be at a disadvantage.
The new rent plan supports the transition to Universal Credit (UC). UC claimants receive 12 equal payments per year.
We already have more than 1,400 tenants who pay by direct debit. These payments are made 12 times a year. The new plan will help you to budget over the year. Changing to a 52 week rent year has reduced the weekly payments.
