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37 lines
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<cms:item xmlns:cms="http://www.arsdigita.com/cms/1.0" xmlns="http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/esdbody" oid="[com.arsdigita.cms.contenttypes.ESDService:{id=116}]"><cms:name>batch-17-116</cms:name><cms:language>en</cms:language><cms:title>Council housing - current tenant arrears</cms:title><cms:dublinCore oid="[com.arsdigita.london.cms.dublin.DublinCoreItem:{id=116}]"><cms:name>batch-17-116-dublin-metadata</cms:name><cms:dcAudience>General public</cms:dcAudience><cms:dcCoverage>content="99XX" scheme="ONS SNAC"</cms:dcCoverage><cms:dcCoveragePostcode/><cms:dcCoverageSpatialRef/><cms:dcCoverageUnit/><cms:dcDateValid/><cms:dcDisposalReview/><cms:dcLanguage>en</cms:dcLanguage><cms:dcTemporalBegin/><cms:dcTemporalEnd/><cms:dcCreatorOwner>LAWS Project - Starter Kit - http://www.laws-project.org.uk</cms:dcCreatorOwner><cms:dcCreatorContact>LAWS Project - Starter Kit - http://www.laws-project.org.uk</cms:dcCreatorContact><cms:dcPublisher>Tameside MBC - LAWS project - http://laws.tameside.gov.uk</cms:dcPublisher><cms:dcRights/><cms:dcKeywords>council, housing, current, tenant, arrears</cms:dcKeywords></cms:dublinCore><cms:textAsset oid="[com.arsdigita.cms.TextAsset:{id=116}]"><cms:content><![CDATA[<h2>Housing</h2><span class="gen">email address here</span><span class="gen">phone number here</span><span class="gen">sms phone number here</span><span class="gen">fax number here</span><span class="gen">minicom number here</span><p><i>How the Council deals with tenants who fall behind with their rent and what you can do to avoid this. </i></p><hr/><p>The Council is reliant upon rental income to pay for the services that it delivers
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to its Council tenants. If rent arrears increase it does have a definite effect
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on the services that the Council tenants receive. For that reason it is critical
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that rent arrears levels are kept to the minimum. </p><p>If a tenant falls into arrears the Council is sympathetic and will permit repayment
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of those arrears by instalments. However, the most important thing is that a person
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falling into arrears should make contact with the Housing Management Section. </p><p>The Council can only assist in solving the problem if the tenant contacts us to
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let us know what the problem is. If arrears continue to rise, and the Council can
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see no prospect of that changing, then the Council does have to take its tenants
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to Court. </p><p>At the Court the Council will normally ask for what is termed a 'Suspended Possession
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Order'. That is where the Court orders that the tenant must start paying the rent
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and a small amount per week, fortnight, or month off of the arrears. Tenants are
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encouraged to attend Court, should they be summoned. Even at this stage the Council
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would much prefer to have the problem of the arrears resolved rather than have the
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tenant evicted. </p><p>If a person has a Suspended Court Order against them the Council would still wish
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to know if the tenant encounters any difficulty in making payments. We will exercise
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some discretion, rather than just seeking to evict.</p><p>Regrettably, there does come a time when the Council appears to be faced with no
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alternative but to evict a tenant. This is very much a last resort and it is not
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an action taken lightly by the Council. If a person is evicted they do have a right
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to make an appeal to the Council as being homeless. Whilst every case has to be
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dealt on its merits the Council may well argue that if a person had the ability
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to pay the rent, but did not do so, then they may be considered to be 'intentionally
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homeless' and the Council would have no obligation to rehouse them. That would apply
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even where there are children in the household. For this reason it is very important
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that tenants deal with arrears issues at an early stage and the Housing Management
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Section are always happy to give help and advice at an stage in an arrears problem.</p><p>When a person leaves a Council tenancy they become known as a 'former tenant'.
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If there are arrears at the end of the tenancy the Council will continue to pursue
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these. In practice, this may mean summonsing the former tenant to Court to get an
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Order for payment. However, the addition of court costs against the former tenant
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makes this an expensive option for the former tenant. In practice, we would much
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rather negotiate repayment by instalments if clearing the debt in a single payment
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is not possible. As always, it is important that people contact our Housing Management
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Section to discuss these issues so that a mutually convenient solution can be negotiated.</p><span class="gen">email address here</span><span class="gen">phone number here</span><span class="gen">sms phone number here</span><span class="gen">fax number here</span><span class="gen">minicom number here</span><span class="gen">postal address here</span><h3>
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<a href="/ccm/services/pid.jsp?pid=116"> Providing Information
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(116)
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</a></h3>]]></cms:content></cms:textAsset></cms:item>
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