What happens if you cannot pay your council home rent

Contents

How we recover council home rent arrears

There are 6 stages to recovering rent arrears.

Stage 1: Reminder 

If you fall behind with your rent, we will contact you by email, text message, phone and letter.

We will ask you to contact us to discuss your rent account and agree a payment plan.

Stage 2: First warning letter

If we do not hear from you and no payment is made, we will send you a first warning letter.

The letter explains:

We will continue to try to contact you contact you by email, text message, phone and visit you in person.

Stage 3: Second warning letter

If we do not hear from you after the first warning letter, we will send a second warning letter.

The letter explains:

If you do not make a payment or agree a payment plan, we may serve a notice seeking possession or another legal notice, depending on your tenancy agreement.

We will continue to try to contact you contact you by email, text message, phone and visit you in person.

We will arrange a home visit as a final attempt to agree a payment plan.

If we cannot agree a payment plan and you do not make a payment:

  • we will serve the appropriate legal notice
  • we will deliver the notice to your home

We cannot start court action until at least 28 days after we give you the notice.

We will continue to try to contact you contact you by email, text message, phone and visit you in person.

Stage 5: Court action

If your case goes to court and you still owe rent, a judge may make one of the following orders.

  1. Outright Possession Order - you must leave your home within the period set by the court.
  2. Suspended Possession Order - you can stay in your home if you keep to the payment plan set by the court.
  3. Adjournment - the court may delay the case if you have reduced your rent arrears. We may return to court within 12 months if you fall behind with your rent again.

If you do not keep to the terms of a Suspended Possession Order, you could be evicted.

We will ask the court to award costs, including legal and court fees.

We may also ask the court for a money judgment. This means you will still have to repay the debt, even if you leave the property.

Stage 6: Eviction

You could lose your home if you do not follow the terms of a court order.

If we cannot agree a solution with you, we will ask the court for a warrant for possession. If the court approves the warrant, a member of our senior management team will also approve it.

A court bailiff will confirm the eviction date and deliver the notice by hand.

On the eviction date, an Income Officer, Housing Officer and Court Bailiff will attend your home to carry out the eviction.

Get help with an eviction notice 

If you receive notice of eviction, get independent advice immediately.

You can contact:

What happens if you are evicted 

Being evicted may affect your ability to get housing from Woking Borough Council or other landlords in the future.

If you are evicted, you will still be required to repay:

  • outstanding rent
  • court fees
  • legal costs