Could lose our home on Tuesday!

pennyfrog

EDIT:
Well, isn't that just Murphy's law (in a good way!!!)
I'd just posted this thread, gone to the kitchen and put on the kettle to drown my sorrows in a mug of tea, and decided while it was boiling that I may as well try to ring the Income Recovery Officer one last time today- and Bingo! She answered- and on hearing my name said "Oh I've just sent you an email!"
Basically, she's happy with installments and in going for a suspension on the possession order. Yaaay!
Sooo- hopefully that's an update for anyone checking back- and saves a loooong read for anyone else popping in here!
Thanks to anyone who was racking their brains for ideas!



Without going into long explanations, we're currently in arrears with our rent and the housing association are taking us to court for possession of the house. The date is set for Tuesday 5th May- just after the bank holiday.
There is absolutely no way we can pay off all the arrears before the hearing- and no-one to borrow the money from. We can't afford private renting and have no money for deposits anyway.

Because my hubby earns a low wage, we receive Housing Benefit, which was very helpful until recently. It's now been drastically reduced. they say it's due to overpayment last year (from what I can tell, when our tax credit entitlement went up, they don't seem to have made an adjustment in the housing benefit, hence the overpayment. I'm sure I gave them all the details of the change- but I can't find a receipt for the forms, so can't prove it).
We now have to pay £70 per week more than we used to. This means that we can't afford a huge repayment of the arrears, as it's going to be a struggle now that we have to pay all but £10 of the full rent.

I'd chatted with the Income Recovery officer about the arrears a few weeks back and she was very nice. She came round to our house-which helped as I was very unwell at the time. She told me that as long as I made a payment within the next day or so,( this was on a Wednesday) it'd be ok. I said I thought I'd feel well enough to go on a bus by then. However, that night, my son came down with the same horrendous vomitting and stomach upset illness that I had and I had to keep him home form school and stay with him. My husband works in a rural location and leaves very early- and doesn't finish during office hours, so he couldn't go to the offices or nearest paypoint (some miles away) There wasn't enough money in our debit card account that week for me to pay over the phone, so we were using money from a cash card account.
Nothing could be paid before Saturday. When I emailed the Income Recovery Officer on the Monday morning to explain about my son being ill, etc, I got an almost instant reply saying that because the payment hadn't been received on the Thursday, it was now going to court.

My main problem now is that no-one seems to be responding to me at the Housing Association.
The usual Income Recovery Officer has gone on maternity leave and I only found out a couple of days ago. I have contacted the lady who has now taken over her cases and forwarded the proposals to her. I explained the situation and offered to pay £20 per month on top of the rent. I also said that I would make a payment that day (Tuesday this week). I asked if that would be acceptable and if it meant that it would be likely that we could receive a suspended possession order, (in the understanding that if we then failed to maintain payment of rent plus arrears, we'd be given an eviction date).
The Housing Association offices are very difficult for me to get to because of location and the fact that I don't drive, so I emailed the details to her (partly for the fact that I have a 'written' record of what was said- easier for me to refer back to). Others at that office have always responded very swiftly to emails- but I received nothing. I tried ringing but was told that she wasn't there at that moment and that they would tell her to ring me back in the morning, which would have meant she'd ring me on Wednesday morning.
We received no phone calls at all on Wednesday.
I've emailed again today- and also confirmed that I made a payment of £200 via debit card over the phone on Tuesday (I received a receipt for that today) and also the first of the £20 installments (and told her that I hoped it wasn't presumptuous but that I didn't want to wait).
I've still had no reply.
I also reported a couple of repairs via email- and had an immediate email confirming that and follow up phone call within the hour, so it can't just be the system.
No luck on the phone either.
I'm so worried about what will now happen.
I can't do anything Monday, obviously, and the case is early Tuesday morning, so that leaves me the last couple of working hours today and tomorrow (and I have an important hospital appointment I have to go to for a few hours, so that's most of Friday gone, with travelling etc).
I don't know if this means they won't accept installments, or what. I'm wondering if I need to give details or proof of income or anything to the court- and how on earth I'm going to manage that before the hearing.
Can anyone advise?
I'd thought of trying to contact one of the other members of staff (someone a bit higher up) and seeing if they can help- or will this make things worse?
If I have no contact with her before the hearing will she just automatically insist on possession? Will it be pointless trying to ask the judge to suspend the order? I've always understood that a judge will never go against what a housing association asks for, so it seems unlikely.
I'm so worried.

NualaBuala

Hi Pennyfrog!

I read the title of your post and thought 'Oh you poor thing'! And when I read your update I thought yippee!

Well done on not giving up and for negotiating the great outcome!

Now you can have a celebratory cup of tea and maybe something yummy to go with it if your tummy's better.

fatbelly

And of course you'll be attending court to make sure the order is suspended on the terms you have agreed...

You don't say how much the arrears are.

Why don't you ask the judge to adjourn on terms of rent plus £20 per month?

pennyfrog wrote: »

Will it be pointless trying to ask the judge to suspend the order? I've always understood that a judge will never go against what a housing association asks for, so it seems unlikely.

In my local court, the housing associations only get what they ask for if the judge considers it reasonable. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.