This page explains how we deal with rent arrears and how we can help you.
If you are having problems paying your rent you must contact our Rent Section straight away.
We will:
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Offer you a private interview at the Council Offices or in your home.
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Check if you can claim Housing Benefit and help you fill in a Housing Benefit form.
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Help you to sort out your weekly budget.
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Come to a reasonable agreement for you to pay the money you owe.
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Give you details of agencies that can help you with debt.
Debt Counselling and Money Advice
You can often overcome debts and money problems if you get advice. An advisor can help draw up a budget and agree a realistic payment plan. In many cases, they can help by negotiating with creditors such as gas and electric companies and building societies. You can get phone numbers and contact details for money advice and debt counselling from our offices.
What happens if your rent is not paid?
This is the action that we will take if your rent is not paid:
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When you first go behind in your rent (in arrears) we will contact you confirming this. You will need to clear these 'debts' or arrears or make an agreement to pay in instalments.
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If you have not paid the arrears or have not come to an agreement, we will contact you to warn you that we will serve you with a Notice of Seeking Possession unless you come to an agreement to pay.
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If you do not pay or come to an agreement, we will serve a Notice of Seeking Possession on you. You must contact us and enter into an agreement to clear the full amount you owe or pay the weekly rent plus an amount off the arrears each week. As long as you keep to the agreement, we will not take any further action.
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If after being served with a Notice, you do not clear your arrears or keep to an agreement we will contact you and tell you to bring your payments up to date or, we may apply to the court to start proceedings to take your home off you.
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We will apply to the court if you fail to pay the rent in full or have broken your agreement. The court order may be "postponed" which will allow you to remain in your home as long as you keep to the terms of payment set by the court. You will have to pay the court costs. The court order will be valid until you have paid off the arrears and court costs in full.
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If you fail to keep to the payments set by the court we will contact you to ask you to bring your payments up to date. If you do not do this, we could apply to evict you.
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When we have applied for an eviction date, we can only cancel this if you pay off the arrears and court costs in full. You have the right to make an appeal to the court to suspend the eviction.
If you have any queries about your rent or have problems paying your rent please contact the rent section on Leicester (0116) 288961.
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