Rent problem advice needed

Kintoo

Hi All

I realise this may not be the best place to ask and sorry if it is a long post.

Here is the history of the problem.

We live in a Leeds city council house and about 2 years ago had a problem paying the rent (Missing payment etc) in the end we got took to court by them as a result we got a CCJ to pay and told to pay the rent and £5 per week of the rent.

Here are the figures as of now

£1048 CCJ (paying £25 a month of this by standing order as requested by the court and never missed a payment)

£640 Rent arrears (£20 per month as requested plus we are paying an extra £20 per month)

Now the problem even though we are now paying full rent plus the extra stuff requested by the court the council here insist on re taking us back to court every 2 months because of arrears.

The last time was July I got to court and the council explained they were seeking possession due to arrears and again we shown the court the full payment and the judge dismisses the case as they can see we are paying.

This morning another letter from the council saying they are taking us to court again on the 16th Oct for non payment.

In the last year we have reduced the rent arrears by £700 so why do they keep doing this, we have spoke to the housing manager and he says it is because we have arrears and even though we pay they still take you to court.

This is really getting annoying as I keep having to take time off work to attend court half the time money is added to the CCJ for costs....

Anyonje any advice.

dougk_2

Get in contact with your local councillor. Explain to them the situation and I am sure they will discuss the issue either in a council meeting or direct with the housing manager as it will be wasting plenty of councils funds in the court action.

You could alternitively ask for a meeting with the Chief Exec of the council to discuss the issue. Most LG Chief Exec's do actually see local residents without to much hassle.

The IT system used WILL be able to cope with agreeded payments , so if you have agreed to pay the arears back over a certain period of time then the system should relaise this - proably no-one has updated your records to reflect this.

Having worked in Local Government for many years (inc supporting housing systems) the problem is usually the admin offices ignoring common sense!

moomin-mama_2

If it does go back to court you can ask for costs not to be awarded. This is at the judges discretion but you can prove you don't miss payments and are keeping to the agreed payments.

If you need any help with this see your local CAB or https://www.shelter.org.uk