what happens if you do not pay

Chasing up payment

If we do not receive your rent, we have to follow a standard procedure to chase up payment. This procedure is as follows:

• We will write to you when you owe £25 or twice the gross weekly rent, whichever is less. The gross rent is the total amount you have to pay each week before deductions, such as housing benefit.
• We will write to you again if you owe more than four times the gross weekly rent, and invite you to an interview.
• At the interview we will try to make an agreement that allows you to pay your rent arrears by instalments. We will also make sure you are getting all the extra income you are entitled to.
• If you do not come to the interview, we will serve you with a notice of seeking possession, or if you are on income support we will request that additional money is taken from your income support to pay your debt.
• If you break the agreement with us we will serve you with a notice of seeking possession.
• Once a notice of seeking possession has been served, you have up to four weeks to make an agreement to pay the rent and an amount from the arrears. If you do not make an agreement or if you break an agreement, we will take you to court.
• If we get a court order against you and you do not keep to its conditions it is likely that you will be evicted. You should seek legal advice and attend the court hearing.

If a court summons is served, you can expect to be charged our legal costs of approximately £200 per hearing.

Eviction

For the benefit of all our tenants, it is our duty to collect rent. Although we do our best to sort out tenancy or rent problems, we still have to evict tenants every year as a last resort. Normally (but not exclusively) we have to evict because of non-payment of rent, and even families with children face the risk of losing their home.

If you are evicted and find yourself homeless, we are not obliged to rehouse you or anyone who lives with you, so you will have to find your own accommodation. You will also still have to clear your debt with Homes for Haringey.

If you face eviction, the court will tell you when the bailiff will arrive (the date and time). Once the bailiff has removed everyone from the property, a housing officer will take possession of the property. We will store any personal belongings left inside for a short period, unless they are perishable (food, for example).

Please note that if you are a tenant facing a possession order, you should seek independent legal advice. You can do this by contacting a solicitor or local citizens advice bureau.

Can eviction be stopped?

Once a court order (possession order) has been given to you, only the court can change it. If you need to make a request to vary the terms of the order, or to delay an eviction, you will have to make it to the court.

The earlier you take action or get advice the better, it gets harder to make agreements the longer you leave it.

You can apply for the warrant of possession to be suspended, and in this case the court will reconsider your case. This doesn’t mean that they will necessarily agree to change the decision however.

Remember, if you are having trouble paying your rent:

• tell us about your problems
• get advice from the citizens advice bureau if necessary
• make regular payments, even if they are not for the full amount owed.