Policies: rent arrears

CHISEL regards the regular payment of rent as the primary responsibility of all tenants. Joint tenants are jointly and equally responsible for the payment of the whole rent. If you get into difficulty in paying your rent, contact your Housing Manager immediately. They will be sympathetic to any problems you may have, and will offer advice and assistance in claiming any welfare benefits that you may be entitled to. We will always work with you to help resolve matters, which is why you should contact us if you get into arrears. However, we will take a hard line against tenants who do not co-operate and make no effort to help themselves.

Reviewing your Housing Benefit Claim
Housing Benefit will review your claim once a year. The Council should send you a renewal form before your claim expires. This may not always happen on the anniversary of your initial claim - it could be a little later. It is important that you complete the renewal form and send it back immediately, otherwise your claim may not run continuously and you will be responsible for the whole rent. Similarly you should not ignore any other correspondence from the Housing Benefit department, as your claim could be adversely affected. If you are in doubt, please talk to your Housing Manager who will be able to help you.

Legal Action
If the arrears continue to rise, or CHISEL feels that we are not making any headway, we will serve a Notice of Seeking Possession. This means we intend to go to court. If you then repay the arrears or make a suitable repayment arrangement, we will take no further action. If the arrears are not reduced we will arrange a county court hearing to seek possession of your home - this could ultimately lead to your eviction. All court costs are charged to you, and your credit rating could suffer. CHISEL will not allow arrears to rise indefinitely even when this may be because of Housing Benefit problems. We feel it is very important for tenants to take responsibility for their housing costs, even when the payments are made directly to us from a local authority.

Don't Delay
If you are finding it difficult to pay your rent or starting to fall into arrears, please let us know quickly so that we can do something to help. The longer you leave things, the worse they will get. CHISEL is always willing to listen and come to an arrangement with you. Please speak to the Rents Officer.