In the unfortunate event that we encounter rental problems, we have set procedures for recovering arrears:
- If the tenant(s) defaults on their rent we will first attempt to contact them via phone, text message, and email and send them an online payment link to take their missed payment quickly.
- A second contact attempt via phone, text message and email will be made if we receive no response from the tenant within 1-2 working days, if there is a guarantor on the tenancy agreement, they will also be contacted at this point.
- If that is unsuccessful, we will send a formal rent recovery letter.
- If there is no answer to this, we will then send a letter of entry that states that we will be coming to the property to discuss this matter. These external rent visits will be carried out by your outbound property manager and are part of your monthly management fee.
- At the letter of entry, your property manager will try and resolve the rental issue by recovering payment or setting up a payment plan with the tenant. All forms used at this stage will be saved on our lettings package to allow us to manage the process. Your property manager will give you a call or email during or after the appointment to provide the relevant feedback.
- If an amicable solution cannot be reached, your allocated inbound property manager will discuss your next options with you in detail. This may include serving the relevant notice of possession, typically a section 8 or 21 notice.
- We will consult with you at every stage to confirm you are happy with the actions that we are carrying out
What happens if there are rental issues and your tenant is on Housing Benefits (Local Housing Allowance):
- As above, we will attempt to contact your tenant to find out why their housing benefit payments have changed, been suspended or cancelled.
- You will be informed at the earliest convenience if there has been a change in your tenant's housing benefits.
- If the issue cannot be resolved directly through communication with the tenant, your allocated inbound property manager will make weekly calls with the council to rectify the problem.
- We will organise a Letter of Entry appointment to attend the property and discuss and resolve the matter with the tenant if they have not previously communicated, we will call the council from the appointment with your tenant if required.
- In most cases, we can resolve these matters by communicating with the tenants and the councils. Once payments are back in place, the council in most instances will back pay any rent owed from when the payments stopped/paused.
- If the tenant is paid their local housing allowance direct to them and they fall beyond 8 weeks' rent arrears, we will submit a request for direct payment immediately.
What happens if there are rental issues and your tenant is on Universal Credit:
If your tenant receives their rent payments via Universal Credit, chasing any rent arrears is similar to ‘working’ tenants. Following the process attempting contact, sending rent recovery letters and booking a Letter of Entry where required.
In most instances, the tenants are paid their rent directly to them from universal credit, as it is a more independent way of living introduced by the government in 2013. A direct debit is set up in order to pay the rent to ourselves as soon as they receive their payment.
If a tenant falls into rent arrears surpassing 2 months. We can immediately request direct payment and APA rent arrears payments via an online UC47 form. However, when they make the decision to do this, they contact the tenant directly asking if they also agree to the request.
Direct Monthly Rent payments & APA payments:
- If direct payment is approved, they will begin paying the tenant's monthly rent direct to ourselves in the following month to the request.
- If direct APA payments are approved, this means as well as the rent amount, they will pay a small amount of rent towards the arrears, which is worked out directly from the tenant's allowance and what they can realistically pay towards any rent arrears on their account at the time of the request. These payments are usually paid to us on a different payment run date than the monthly rent, we shall inform you of any agreed direct payment dates as soon as we receive confirmation of this ourselves.