Advice needed!

pinkflop

Hi,

I wondered if anyone could give me some advice.... I have googled but can't find what I am looking for.

I had a number of difficulties whilst renting my last property and fell into rent arrears. The property had to be rented quickly and was far too expensive for me and after living there for a year I ran up a terrible debt. To avoid further debt being incurred, I have now moved area and am renting a much cheaper property and all my rent is paid on time every month.

However, I have been left with a debt from my last property which I am trying to pay off. I asked my landlord to keep my deposit to pay towards it and I now have a debt of approx £1200 to pay :eek:

On the day I moved out he asked me to write on his clipboard how much I was proposing to pay every month to clear the debt and sign it. I wrote that I would pay £100 as I thought this was achievable and wanted to pay it as quickly as possible as he is not the most pleasant man to deal with (kind of understandable as I owe him alot of money). I am now really struggling to pay this. I am covering all my bills every month but it's left me with next to no disposible income for petrol, food etc. Having now gone through my budget I can only afford to pay him £25 per month.

I just wondered legally where I would stand asking to pay a reduced amount of £25? As I wrote and signed agreeing to pay £100, can he 'hold' me to this? I would really like to know what my rights are before I approach him.

Many thanks

DizzyDizzy

I don't have much to suggest - maybe try your local citizens advice bureau?

Tixy

Hi

(sorry I'm going to answer in a roundabout way)

As things stand at the moment if he decided he wasn't happy with the £100 a month legally he could decide to take you to court to obtain a CCJ. As he hasn't ever signed to say he agreed to £100 a month.
So if you start paying him only £25 a month then he still has the same legal right to take you to court.

But obviously you want to limit the chance he decides to do this, I would suggest writing to him with the new offer of payment and explain that you cannot afford £100 a month. Hopefully he will accept this.

If he does decide to take you to court then you need to ask the judge if you can pay in installments and then you should be given a judgment for monthly payments at a rate that you can afford. So if he is aware you are paying all you can afford then he wouldn't actually get paid any quicker if he takes you to court.

Before you send the offer have you been through all your expenses to see if there is anything else you can reduce/get cheaper such as by switching suppliers etc to make sure you are offering all you can afford? Might it be worth posting your budget/statement of affairs on here to see if anyone can suggest any other areas where you could free up a bit more cash.
Its just that obviously at £25 a month it will take 4years to pay off this debt.