Tenants handbook Booklet 4. Paying your rent. June 2015

Transcription

1 Teats hadbook Booklet 4 Payig your ret Jue 2015

2 Your Ret ad other charges Payig your ret ad other charges is a coditio of your teacy. If you do ot pay, you will have broke your teacy agreemet with us. We use the ret we collect from all our teats to repair ad improve homes ad eighbourhoods. We write to you every year to tell you how much ret you should pay. We charge you for ret for your home ad ay other services which you may use. 02 CaReTakig SeRviCe STadaRdS ad ObjeCTiveS

3 Payig your ret Your weekly ret paymets are due every Moday ad must be paid i advace for the week ahead. If you prefer, you ca cotact a Icome Recovery Officer o to discuss alteratives such as fortightly or mothly paymets. We will sed quarterly ret accout statemets oly to teats who have falle behid with their ret paymets (are i arrears). All teats will receive a ret statemet at the ed of the fiacial year. If you have ay queries about paymets made or you wish to request a statemet of your ret accout please cotact Customer Services o If you have paid too much ret you ca leave the credit o your accout to offset future charges or you ca ask a Icome Recovery Officer for a refud. If you have other outstadig debts with the coucil we may trasfer all or part of the credit to clear these debts. You ca pay your ret: By direct debit. We have two mothly paymet date optios of 1st ad 15th of the moth ad oe weekly optio. Please call to arrage Usig the iteret visit us at by debit or credit card please call to use our automated paymet lie by cheque - post to South Kesteve District Coucil (made payable to South Kesteve District Coucil) with your ame, address ad ret accout umber o the back of the cheque or had i at oe of our offices by cash at a Allpay outlet or via the Allpay phoe app. Please cotact our customer services team o to request a Allpay card Problems payig your ret help available Please cotact oe of our Icome Recovery Officers o as soo as possible if you are havig difficulties payig your ret. We wat to work with you to solve the problem. How we ca help: We will try to help you by: discussig your circumstaces with you before your arrears become too serious givig advice o ay welfare or housig beefits you may be etitled to CaReTakig SeRviCe STadaRdS ad ObjeCTiveS 03

4 puttig you i touch with other agecies that ca offer you support, such as the Citizes Advice Bureau, Shelter, Jobcetre Plus, Natioal Debtlie ad the Cosumer Credit Cousellig Service settig up a volutary arragemet for you to pay regular amouts off your arrears. What we will do if you do t pay your ret We will cotact you askig for the outstadig amout to be paid. If you ca t pay your ret for whatever reaso you should cotact a Icome Recovery Officer immediately o Where possible we will make a agreemet with you which will give you more time to get your ret accout up to date We will visit you at your home to discuss your ret arrears if ecessary. If you are ot i we will leave a card to say we have called If you igore our attempts to cotact you, remai behid with your ret paymets, or do ot keep to a agreed paymet pla, we will begi legal proceedigs agaist you. Legal proceedigs could lead to you beig evicted from your home. The legal procedure is differet for Secure ad itroductory teacies. Secure teats Our first step towards legal actio will be to sed you a Notice of Seekig Possessio. If you do ot make a arragemet to pay the arrears withi four weeks of the Notice beig served, or if arragemets are broke, we will apply to the Couty Court for a Possessio Order. You will be asked to atted a court hearig, which ca lead to: a Court Order to clear the arrears ad to pay our legal costs a Couty Court Judgmet agaist you, which may affect your future credit ratig. The court usually grats oe of two types of possessio order: Suspeded Possessio Order If a agreemet to pay your arrears is reached, ad you keep to the agreemet, o further actio will be take. Breakig the agreemet could lead to evictio. 04

5 Outright Possessio Order Uless you have cleared your curret ret arrears ad the court costs by the date i the Court Order we will apply for a bailiff s warrat to evict you. evictio If you do ot pay what the court tells you to pay we will apply to the court for a warrat of evictio ad you could lose your home. You should also cotact a solicitor, Shelter ad the homeless uit at the Coucil for advice Whe you receive the date for evictio you have the right to apply to the Couty Court to susped the evictio, if you are a secure teat. There is a charge for this but if you are i receipt of beefits you may ot have to pay this. If you make a applicatio to susped the warrat of evictio the Couty Court will set a hearig date. You will be required to atted ad a Icome Recovery Officer from the Coucil will also atted. The judge will liste to you ad the Coucil ad decide whether the evictio should go ahead or ot. itroductory teats A itroductory teacy lasts for 12 moths. We will moitor your ret accout ad cotact you if you do ot pay the ret o time. If you do ot clear the ret accout or make a arragemet ad keep to this, you will be issued with a Notice of Proceedigs for Possessio. You have the right to request a review of our decisio to serve the Notice. The request must be made withi 14 days of the Notice beig served. If you have ot asked for a review, or if the review has upheld the decisio to issue the Notice, we will apply to the court for possessio. The court will ormally give possessio of the property to the coucil as it is a itroductory teacy. If you do ot leave by the date show i the court order we will apply to the court for a warrat to evict you. applyig for Housig beefit Housig Beefit is paid by the Coucil to help you pay your ret. Coucil Tax support is give to help you pay your coucil tax. The amout you get depeds o your circumstaces. We will eed to kow who lives with you, the amout of icome you receive ad the amout of savigs you have. You should have bee give iformatio about how to claim Housig ad Coucil Tax Beefit whe you siged up for your 05

6 teacy. If you wish to apply you will eed to speak to a beefit assessor. Please telephoe the beefits service o If you do ot apply for beefit straight away, or do ot provide ay requested iformatio to support your beefit claim as soo as possible, we may ot be able to pay beefit from the start of your teacy. Chage of circumstaces If you are receivig Housig Beefit ad your circumstaces chage you must tell us straight away. Please call the Beefits Office o The types of chages you must tell us about iclude: If your icome goes up or dow or your workig hours chage If you start a ew job, or you have lost your job If someoe moves ito your home or someoe moves out of your home If you move house. Please remember that you are resposible for makig sure you pay your ret o time. Housig Beefit may ot pay all of your ret so you will eed to pay the differece each week. You ca also get idepedet advice from the Citizes Advice Bureau regardig your teacy ad paymet of ret, as well as Housig Beefit matters. Housig beefit fraud Most people who receive help with their ret ad coucil tax are i geuie eed. However, there are people who do ot provide us with correct iformatio about their persoal circumstaces, or fail to tell us of a chage i their circumstaces. You are committig beefit fraud whe you kowigly give false or misleadig iformatio to: obtai a paymet to which you are ot etitled obtai a greater paymet tha that to which you are etitled. If we fid a icorrect paymet or fraud of ay kid, we may ask you to explai why it happeed. If there are ay overpaymets, they will have to be repaid. If you believe someoe is claimig frauduletly, please call the Fraud Hotlie o , fraud@southkesteve.gov.uk, write to South Kesteve District Coucil, Beefit Ivestigatios Sectio, St Peter s Hill, Gratham, Licolshire, NG31 6PZ, or speak to a member of our beefit ivestigatios team at the mai coucil offices. 06

7 FLOWCHaRT SHOWig STePS TO ReCOveR arrears FROM SeCURe TeaTS FLOWCHaRT SHOWig STePS TO ReCOveR arrears FROM itroductory TeaTS LeTTeR TO LeT YOU kow YOU are i arrears LeTTeR TO LeT YOU kow YOU are i arrears if O ReSPOSe We WiLL COTaCT YOU by PHOe, visit, OR TexT if O ReSPOSe We WiLL COTaCT YOU by PHOe, visit, OR TexT if O COTaCT OR PaYMeTS Made FURTHeR LeTTeR SeT if O COTaCT OR PaYMeTS Made FURTHeR LeTTeR SeT LegaL OTiCe Seekig POSSeSSiO SeRved O TeaT S128 OTiCe SeRved OPTiO TO ReQUeST a RevieW LeTTeR SeT TO give TeaT OTiCe OF COURT actio 14 day LeTTeR before COURT actio apply TO COURT FOR POSSeSSiO OF PROPeRTY apply FOR COURT actio COTaCT TeaT before COURT HeaRig COURT HeaRig COURT HeaRig apply FOR WaRRaT apply FOR WaRRaT evictio evictio 07

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