Housing Association Eviction Question.

[Ceefax]

Hello.

Could a housing association successfully evict someone for rent arrears - even though an arrangement to repay those arrears already exists?
The tenant as being paying the agreed monthly charge on time, since it was made.

Thank you.

[echat11]

Hi CEEFAX

Welcome to LB

islandgirl Can you please take a look. Thank you.

[islandgirl]

Thank you echat11 but I am not really sure of info re Housing Associations. It seems however unlikely that if current rent plus arrears is being paid, eviction is possible. My strong advice is to get in touch with your local councillor who should be able to help you and also contact the housing dept at your local council - they will not want anyone becoming homeless and may intervene on your behalf. Housing Associations have their own sets of rules but I expect they must abide by the overriding law regarding tenancies and, if rent and arrears are being paid, it seems unlikely that any court would agree to eviction. Contact your councillor!

[atticus]

If this relates to a real situation, it would be wise to look at the grounds being put forward for seeking eviction. Those grounds, and the facts behind them, are what will need to be tackled when opposing court action.

[Ceefax]

Thanks for your interest in my post.

Yes, it’s a real situation - it’s happening to my Dad.

The grounds for seeking eviction are rent arrears - about £1900.
There are no other issues.



The arrears came about during the switch over to Universal Credit.
Under this new benefit, rent is not paid directly to the landlord, like before.
Instead, it’s given to the benefit claimant - and they’re suppose to forward it on to the landlord.

However, it is possible to request that the Housing Benefit be paid directly to the landlord, if for some reason you cannot manage the payments yourself.

Unfortunately, my Dad has a mental health problem that badly effects his ability to communicate with the outside world, so he was unable to organize this.
And that’s why he accrued a few months worth of rent arrears.

Eventually, a request to have the rent paid directly to the housing association was made.
It’'s the housing association themselves who have to make this request.

As well as the current rent, the housing association also requested a monthly payment to cover the rent arrears that occurred during this benefit switch over.
So my Dad now has his rent, and a monthly charge of £60.06 to cover the rent arrears, paid directly to the housing association.

_________________

8 months later, my Dad received a letter from the housing association, demanding payment of these arrears - and threatening to evict him.

My Dad thought it must have been a mistake of some kind - and rung them and explain a payment scheme was already in place to cover these arrears.
But they said that didn'’t matter - and he was facing eviction.


That's where we're at now, and why I asked - could they really evict him under these circumstances?


Thank you.

[echat11]

Here's some useful information -

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housi...ng_association

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ho...rears-housing/