Renting Trouble

rchddap1

Useful information. Thank you all (which reminds me I need to press the buttons). I had a feeling it could potentially lead to CCJs and we have warned them of this. They're late teens / early twenties and want to stand on their own two feet. No bad thing, but they don't seem to want to ask for help. Tried everything other than offering it on a plate ..... and won't do that. They have to ask.

As for a bolt hole....yes they have one already. Some family of hers live not too far away, so if the worst happens she already knows to go there. But we have already told them that they need to find somewhere else to go. Worst case scenario we can find her somewhere at least, and he still has his parents and other friends in the short term.

I'll check this weekend what they have received and will advise them accordingly.

As for job seekers.....she doesn't qualify, she has already checked. She knows that they need all they can get and has spoken to various people and has all the applications for that which she does qualify in process already.

She's doing her best to find another job and to get all the money to which she is entitled, but it seems that the deck is stacked against her. There's not a lot of help out there for her it seems.

I will advise them that they should try and pay what rent they are able to whether it is accepted or not. Other bills like broadband, sky etc...don't exist. She's a pretty practical person and said no to those bills until they were sure they could afford them. So unfortunately there is no more money that can be moved in order to pay the rent.

Fire_Fox

rchddap1 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I believe they are managing all the other bills at the moment. The only one to fall through the net is the rent. It is taken by direct debit....so if the money is not there is just bounces. Don't tell me ... I know....they'll get charged. Have told them. But they're still at that age.

They've spoken to the Landlord / agent and he won't accept anything less than in full and now. Something that they can't manage.

There is your problem. Rent is a priority bill according to all the debt charities and CAB, along with council tax and food. They should not be paying the other bills if they don't have enough money coming in. Nothing majorly bad will happen if they don't pay their mobile phones or utilities for a couple of months - ideally they should at least make token payments of £1 a month to these other parties.

Cancel the DD immediately and either pay whatever they can afford by standing order (they are in control of this) or cash (get a receipt!). Of course the landlord will say he won't accept anything less than the full amount - all creditors do this, and the experts' advice is to pay what you can afford as the courts will see this in a positive light. At the very least they must send a recorded delivery letter offering a payment plan - if the LL refuses that will count against him in court.

Please please re-post this on the DFW board as I suggested, and get the kids to read the responses. At the moment they are going down the worst possible path, and could end up with a County Court Judgement which haunts them for a lifetime. Non-priority debts going unpaid for a couple of months will leave a small mark on their credit file for a maximum of six years. There are template letters on the DFW board so they can advise all parties they are in financial hardship the 'official' way and offering the token payments.

rchddap1

Other bills = council tax, food, water and electric (pre-pay meter for this). That's it...nothing more (unless they've not been truthful with us)

Fire_Fox

rchddap1 wrote: »

Other bills = council tax, food, water and electric (pre-pay meter for this). That's it...nothing more (unless they've not been truthful with us)

No phones of any description? No TV license? What you have described should not add up to even one full-time minimum wage salary, bearing in mind they have not paid the rent for two months. Where is the rest of the money going? Water should not be paid as a priority - you can't be cut off by law.

This is helpful for budgeting, it's the template that the DFW board experts will ask to see:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
And this is the website run by Herbie21 who frequents MSE:
http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/

robpw2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

No phones of any description? No TV license? What you have described should not add up to even one full-time minimum wage salary, bearing in mind they have not paid the rent for two months. Where is the rest of the money going? Water should not be paid as a priority - you can't be cut off by law.

This is helpful for budgeting, it's the template that the DFW board experts will ask to see:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
And this is the website run by Herbie21 who frequents MSE:
http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/

im with ff on this what is happening to their money
the electric and gas meter they shouldnt be using more then £10 a week if that ..

rchddap1

I don't know what is happening to it. I don't know how much he earns. I can understand if he doesn't want to share that with me. I'm only the step mum afterall and he barely knows me. They only have PAYG phones....and I know that she hasn't got any credit at the moment (and hasn't for a while). They will have a tv license of course, but that's about it.

We did try and tell them that they need to make sure they can pay the bills with one wage, but when they won't listen they have to work it out for themselves. Now they know what could potentially happen if they're not careful.

This is their first place and it has been a steep learning curve for them. We all know its one thing to want to go it alone, and another to do it, but they had to work it out for themselves unfortunately.

I suspect there maybe something else that he doesn't want to admit to. So all I can do is work with the information that I have.