Debt Relief Orders (DRO) - Information & help thread

fatbelly

Brighterfuture22 said:

So finally my DRO was submitted yesterday so now it’s the waiting game! However, I’ve got myself in a panic now as today I have received a substantial back payment of DLA which has been claimed for my daughter with medical conditions. This money is now sitting in my bank account of which there is an £800 overdraft included on my DRO. Does this potentially affect the DRO?What do I do? Heads wrecked! 

Get the money out fast

If it's daughter's DLA it's her money but that bank account will be closed if it's listed on a DRO.

You need to stop all payments to that account

Brighterfuture22

Thanks! I’m getting it out tomorrow. It’s come unexpectedly. The account is joint with my husband, will they still force closure? 

I have applied for another account already. 

Pa1rick67

Hi,

I have recently cancelled my Vodafone plan, which I know will result in significant Early Termination Fee (ETF).

If I proceed with my DRO application before receiving the final bill from Vodafone, will the final bill be covered by DRO? (given I will list my current arrears with Vodafone on the DRO)

Thank you in advance!

fatbelly

Best to wait till you get that final figure

CK1223

Hi everyone

I'm just looking for some advice please. I have finally taken the plunge and begun proceedings to apply for a DRO. I spent a good hour on the phone to Stepchange yesterday, who said that they feel that a DRO is the best place of action for my circumstances.

I have just checked my tenancy agreement and have seen the following:

"Forfeiture/Breaches of this Agreement
If at any time during the Tenancy -

c. The Tenant becomes Bankrupt or enters into a Voluntary Arrangement with his creditors;

Then the Landlord will be entitled to take immediate steps to recover possession of the Premises from the Tenant by issuing proceedings for possession in the appropriate court."

Does this mean that, if I enter into a DRO, my landlord will know about it and evict me from my property?

I rent through a lettings agent and have never been late with my rent in the time that I have lived here - in fact I always pay it a week before it is due - so there are no/have never been any rent arrears and my rent will not be included on the DRO.

Starting to panic a bit now after reading that, as other than a DRO I really don't see how I will ever be able to repay my debts without the DRO.

Thank you

sourcrates

CK1223 said:

Hi everyone

I'm just looking for some advice please. I have finally taken the plunge and begun proceedings to apply for a DRO. I spent a good hour on the phone to Stepchange yesterday, who said that they feel that a DRO is the best place of action for my circumstances.

I have just checked my tenancy agreement and have seen the following:

"Forfeiture/Breaches of this Agreement
If at any time during the Tenancy -

c. The Tenant becomes Bankrupt or enters into a Voluntary Arrangement with his creditors;

Then the Landlord will be entitled to take immediate steps to recover possession of the Premises from the Tenant by issuing proceedings for possession in the appropriate court."

Does this mean that, if I enter into a DRO, my landlord will know about it and evict me from my property?

I rent through a lettings agent and have never been late with my rent in the time that I have lived here - in fact I always pay it a week before it is due - so there are no/have never been any rent arrears and my rent will not be included on the DRO.

Starting to panic a bit now after reading that, as other than a DRO I really don't see how I will ever be able to repay my debts without the DRO.

Thank you

You will be visible on the insolvency register for the 12 months of your DRO, and for 3 months after it ends.

It will also show on your credit file for 6 years.

Your landlord won`t find out about it unless -

(A) you tell them.

(B) they are in the habit of looking at the insolvency register for all there tenants.

(C) they run a full credit check on you.

Many people who rent have DRO`s, I think that is just standard wording they put in tenancy agreements, what they could potentially do, not what they will do.

fatbelly

Further to the above, if you own your own place or are buying on a mortgage, you are disqualified from a DRO!!

So your situation is the same as everyone else apart from the few who get into significant debt while living rent-free with mum/dad/other.

In practice your landlord is interested in whether the rent comes in each month and whether you are taking care of the property. If so, then they are not going to be searching the insolvency register for reason to evict you and take a chance on another tenant.

My answer would have been a little different if you had rent arrears and were putting the landlord as a creditor in your DRO. But even so, there is then an argument for keeping you on as there is a rule that in a DRO you are not allowed to make payments to creditors. The one exception is rent arrears for current tenancies, where you are allowed to make payments to keep the property. So in those circumstances the only way the landlord would see their money come in is if they do not evict the tenant.

CK1223

Thank you so much for your reply sourcrates and fatbelly. I've ready many of your replies on other posts in this forum and your wealth of knowledge really has been a godsend, so thank you for that. 

My tenancy is due to renew in about 6 weeks, so I'm thinking about holding off on sending the DRO application until after then as I'm not 100% sure if the estate agents will credit check me again when I renew the tenancy (this is my first tenancy with this particular estate agents and I've not yet renewed with them so not 100% sure of their process). Stepchange applied for Breathing Space for me yesterday, so I will at least be covered up until a week or so after my tenancy renewal, so I was thinking I would hold off applying for the DRO after I've signed up for another 12 months tenancy.

When I applied for the property, I made the estate agents aware that I was in a Debt Management Plan and the landlord was fine with it as long as I had a guarantor, which I do, so I'm hoping that if they do somehow find out about the DRO then the fact that I have a guarantor will go some way towards helping my case 🙂

Thank you again

sourcrates

There is no harm in holding off on the DRO for a while, debt collection, if that is what worries you, is quite a long and drawn out process, basically as a rule of thumb, you could stop paying your non priority debts today, and wouldn`t have to worry about court action for a good 18 months or even longer, original creditors 99% of the time just refer your account to collections, then  maybe a debt collector, its only when a debt is sold, and you consistently ignore the new owner that legal action becomes possible.

davetherave85

My wife is looking to go down the DRO route. However, I own the property(with mortgage) so will she still be eligible?

In terms of her expenses she just pays me minimal amounts towards bills however her work has gone down to part time so her income has dropped hence she cannot pay her CC bills.

Do they ask for bank statements when applying for DRO's?