If you fall into arrears with your rent we will write to you and, if we do not get a response, one of our staff will also visit your home to try to discuss in person how you will clear the debt. If you are not able to clear your account in full straight away, it may be possible to agree a repayment plan.
We can go through your income and outgoings, try to work out what you can afford to pay towards clearing your arrears and agree a repayment plan with you.
It may be that your circumstances have changed – for example, you may no longer be in employment or you may have had a reduction in income which makes it difficult to pay your rent and other bills. In these cases you might be entitled to claim Housing Benefit against your rent.
Our staff can give you advice on making a claim for Housing Benefit. They can help you complete the forms and advise you about the proofs that you need to provide to avoid delays in your claim being processed by Leeds Benefit Service.
Just remember - we’re here to help.
If we can prevent you being taken to court, it will help us all – it means less work for us and it will mean you won’t have to pay court costs in addition to the rent arrears.
As well as the extra cost, you’ll also find that a County Court Judgement (or CCJ) against you can cause you problems, for example, if you ever apply for a mortgage or a loan of any kind.
Once you’ve agreed a repayment plan you’ll need to make sure that you keep to it but we do realise that there might be times when you might not be able to keep to the plan.
People's circumstances change for a number of reasons. Maybe you have started or finished work and need advice on paying your rent. Maybe you or your partner may have changed from one DSS benefit to another and this may effect your housing benefit claim, or someone may have moved in or out of your home which may effect what you need to pay.
If this is the case make sure that you let us know what’s happened as soon as you can. - If you simply stop paying or don’t pay enough, we won’t know that there is a problem and we will just take the next step in the process which could lead to a County Court Hearing.
We need to know about changes in your circumstances so that we can do our best to prevent you falling behind with rent payments.
Even if you don't have any rent arrears but are having difficulty keeping up to rent or other payments, this might be causing you to ‘juggle’ other debts.
They won't just go away and we might be able to help.
If you need any help or advice about the rent for a current tenancy in Belle Isle, you can talk to:
Sarah Mortimer: - Tel. 0113 2141756
If you still owe a debt from a previous tenancy in Belle Isle and you need to discuss this, you can talk to :
Linda Palfreyman: - Tel. 0113 2141831