What happens if you cannot pay your rent?

Transcription

1 What happens if you cannot pay your rent? We are here to help:

2 You must contact your local Housing office straight away if you are having problems paying your rent. What we will do if you owe us money for rent... We will try to help you to be able to pay your rent. If you do not pay the money you owe this is what we will do: At each stage we will give you a chance to make an agreement to pay. If you keep to your agreement to pay then we will not take any further action.

3 We will phone, text, visit and / or write and ask you to pay the money you owe; If you cannot pay all the money, we will make a repayment agreement with you; If you do not keep to your agreement, we will personally serve you a Notice of Seeking Possession of your home;

4 If you still do not work with us to pay the money you owe, we will get a Court Order; If you do not keep to the Court Order we will go back to court for a Possession and Eviction Order. This means you will have to leave your home. Please read on for basic details of how we can help and also ask for a copy of our Money Matters debt guide.

5 Are you having problems paying your rent? Many people have difficulties because they have other money problems. You must contact your local housing office straight away if you are having problems paying your rent. We will do our best to help you: We will offer you a private interview at a local housing office or in your home;

6 We will check if you can claim Housing Benefit and help you fill in Housing Benefit claims forms; We will work with you to help you sort out your weekly budget; We will work out reasonable repayments to help you pay the money you owe;

7 We will give you a copy of our Money Matters debt guide; We can help you with multiple debt problems and put you in touch with specialist advice agencies we work closely with; We will tell you about Leeds City Credit Union and how they can help;

8 Free and confidential debt advice agencies are here to help you: Burley Lodge Advice Service Little London Children s Centre, 169a Meanwood Road, Leeds, LS7 1SR Tel: St Vincent s Helping Locally Berking Avenue, York Road, Leeds, LS9 9LF Tel: Age Concern 188a Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9DX Tel: Ebor Gardens Advice Centre 173 Haslewood Drive, Leeds, LS9 7RE Tel: Citizens Advice Bureau Tel: Leeds City Credit Union Tel: National Debt Line Tel: Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) Tel: SSAFA Soldiers, Sailors and Airforce Association Tel:

9 Loan Sharks More and more people are facing debt problems. Some are being exploited by loan sharks. Victims are not only charged huge rates of interest, they often suffer violence, intimidation and black mail if they fall behind with their payments. If you or someone you know is a victim of a loan shark in Leeds contact the trading standards privately and confidentially on: Tel:

10 If you would like this document in another format or language, please tick as required and return to: East North East Homes Leeds FREEPOST RRJX-YRTK-TACE Leeds, LS7 3YY Your name: Address: Telephone: Formats CD Large print Braille (Arabic) (Farsi) (Kurdish) ک وردی Text only Polski (Polish) (Tigrinya) (Urdu) اردو Another Language (write in box below) For more information call us on: For more information call us on

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12 What happens if you cannot pay your rent Produced by Communications and Information team: June 2008, Updated August 2009, Updated March 2010 Easy read version produced by CHANGE: February 2012 All images CHANGE East North East Homes Leeds A company wholly owned by Leeds City Council Registered in England and Wales No East North East Homes Registered Office Tribeca House, 71 Roundhay Road, LEEDS, LS7 3BE