Housing Association want an extra months' rent!

Tina*Sparkle*

I have recently received a DD instruction letter from the agent who my HA uses to administer their DDs. It stated that my DD payment from the 01/04/14 would be £100.00 more that last year's rent (!!). The tenancy commenced in November 2012 - so this is the second time the HA have reviewed the rent. However, this time I did not receive a formal letter from the HA themselves - which happened the last time they increased the rent by £10.00 last year.

When I had picked myself up from off the floor, I phoned the HA they stated that they want me to pay them the higher figure for four months so that my rental account will be in credit by one month's rental per month at all times. I explained that I could not afford this & they backed down & said that they had reset the DD back to the original figure.

I then decided to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) who said that had never come across a HA or a private landlord asking for, in effect, 2 deposits on theproperty. (I paid one month's rent as a deposit & prepaid the first month's rent when I moved in). So I sent the HA an e-mail confirming what the CAB has said & stated that I am concerned that they may blacklist me as I can only afford to pay what I normally pay e.g I pay March's rent on the firstworking day of March. I have not received an acknowledgement or a reply from them yet.

Has anyone else come across this scenario with their HA rent? I don't believe I signed a contract at the outset of the tenancy stating that I would agree (or could afford) to pay them an extra month's rent at some point in the future... Please advise. Thanks.

Jenniefour

What does it say in your rental agreement?

Tina*Sparkle*

Good point Jennieifour. I have just checked it & I cannot see anything that indicates they will expect me to make further payment(s) from me to keep my account in credit by one month's rent. Under the section 'RENT' it states;
'You agree to pay the total charge due in advance on the first day of each period for which it is due. The tenancy runs from month to month and the total charge is payable on the first working day of each month'.
As I stated in my first post-this is what I have been doing. Perhaps I should send them a follow up e-mail pointing this out..
I'm just really shocked that a HA is acting in this way...I thought that only private landlords may try & get one over on their tenants!

Audrey_Wright

Did they even explained why they want your account in credit by a month's rent?
Not that I try to defend anybody, but there might be a pretty decent reason to do so.. And since you're already mailing them, I guess it wouldn't every hurt to ask.

Jenniefour

Possibly an administrative error on HA's part. Hopefully you've heard the last of it!
And get an acknowledgement of your email.

Tina*Sparkle*

No, nothing. There was no letter from them explaining it (prior to me receiving the DD letter) & when I phoned them they just stated it as though it was a fact. I think it would have been better if they had endeavoured to provide me with any proof that their requirement was valid & in accordance with their terms & conditions. Then at least I'd know what they were basing this request on!

Jenniefour

Only other reason I can think of is if a payment got missed and I imagine you've checked this already.

BigAunty

I've come across a similar post in the benefit forum but it was from a HB claimant who was in a Universal Credit pilot area where social housing tenants were going to receive the HB directly, instead of their social housing landlord.

Traditionally, social housing landlords have always received the HB directly and passing it to the tenant is a very new thing, one that is frustrating both tenants and landlords,leading to significant arrears.

In his case, he felt that the HA was instructing him to have an extra month's rent in his account as a cushion which is against his tenancy agreement - he felt they were demanding he always has 2 months credit.

In reality, I think his social housing landlord was trying to educate him in the difference between rent paid in arrears (like HB) and rent paid in advance. He hadn't caught up with his arrears and felt that his landlord should simply be pleased that he forwarded all his HB to them, regardless of his arrears or late payments.

Could your HA be positioning itself for either a UC pilot or future UC implementation when social housing tenants will be held much more closely to account when it comes to rent payments, regardless of whether they are on benefits or not?

Edit - here are the historic threads I was referring to - does any of this chime with you? His council instructed him that he would be receiving his HB directly from April and therefore he had to sort out his budget and ensure he paid his rent on a timely basis which freaked him out.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4851554
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4844223

Tina*Sparkle*

V interesting. When I was checking around about this matter I was really surprised when my local council HB office informed me that all HB is paid to HAs in arrears! It did make me wonder at the time if I'm being 'clobbered' by my HA to cover all these HB tenants accounts that are always in arrears.

Edit. I also saw that there was a post from someone who said that HAs are in a habit of trying to impose changes to the agreement without getting the tenant to view, agree & sign the amended agreement..mmmmmm....I wonder.....

Building_Surveyor

Ask for a rent statement to see what's what first of all.

Tina*Sparkle*

Building_Surveyor wrote: »

Ask for a rent statement to see what's what first of all.

Yes, they there were only to keen to supply one of those to me. It confirms what I already knew - I'm not in arrears. For some reason there is a credit of 1p on the account but they said they want it to be in credit by one months rent or £450(!)