Housing Association Rent

AutumnWinter

Hi all

I was wondering if I could get some advice from you lovely people.


My friend (and ex-flatmate) and I owe roughly £1200 between us to a housing association (I think that's what it is although we paid full rent, no benefits).


We had a payment plan set up and paid the first installment, however they claimed there was in issue with the bank transfer and claimed we never paid, cue weeks of headaches to prove we had.


We decided we didn't want to pay this way anymore as communication with them was dire, so we called to make the payment. 90% of the time we couldn't get in touch and they rarely replied via email. We left several voicemails saying we wanted to make the final payment via telephone and nobody got back to us.



The final balance should have been cleared in January but it hasn't (and we spent the money... oops). They don't have a forwarding address for us, so technically, letters could have been sent to our old flat, but they haven't tried to contact us via email or telephone either.

Where do we stand with this? Obvioulsy if we have to pay then I will get the money together and pay, but I don't want to make the payment if nothing would happen, as I'm saving to go traveling and currently it's quite a big stress on my shoulder at the mo.


Thanks in advance

Kimberley

Just pay it if you owe the money. You shouldn't be going travelling if you are in arrears. Pay your rent on time each week without going into arrears, that is more important then going on holiday. You say you are saving, well use all that money to pay what you owe and keep on top of your rent or give the place up.

AutumnWinter

AutumnWinter wrote: »

Where do we stand with this? Obvioulsy if we have to pay then I will get the money together and pay, but I don't want to make the payment if nothing would happen.

I find your tone quite patronising Kimberly.
And you musn't have read my post properly before hitting reply.

I no longer live in the property and made every attempt to make the payments (as also stated in my initial post)


whilst perhaps imoral, I'm not asking for your opinion on if I should pay or not, merely what could happen if we weren't to pay or if anyone else has exprienced something similar.


We had the full balance ready to clear and tried to make the payment for three months. I in no way tried to avoid this.


Would you pay money to something that you didn't have to?




P.S - I wouldn't be going travelling UNTIL the arrears are cleared... IF they have to be. Again, quite condescending and assuming of you.

Huskybites1

Hey AW,

Maybe worth checking to see if this would affect your credit rating?
I would just pay it off and then go on your travels without the fear of knowing you owe money on your return.

Live Life Stress free if you can.

Regards

Siamese

No, you have to pay. They are incompetent in taking payment and they may be incompetent chasing you, but chase you they will. If you go off on your travels without paying you'll come back to a wrecked credit record.

This may be old-fashioned but can't you send them a cheque? Write on the back any reference numbers and that it's to clear arrears for x address. Do they have an on-line portal you can pay through (councils do)? Go in to their offices?

Kimberley

AutumnWinter wrote: »

Would you pay money to something that you didn't have to?

If I owed the money yes

AutumnWinter

Thanks for reading my posts in detail and contributing helpful, productive points that are full of insight Kimberley.


Huskybites1 and Siamese thank you! That's all I wanted to know.


At the end of the day, yes I owe the money but if I don't pay it and there's no repercusions I wouldn't pay it - just being honest. Maybe that's not 'right' but show me one human being (who has others things to pay off) who WANTS to give money away if they don't have to.

I'll sort it out and get it paid asap.

Any ideas on time frames of when court action could/would happen or if they are required to be in contact with you before they issue a garnishee etc?

Thanks again!



P.S - Siamese I've never had/used a cheque book in my life so not something I'd considered. No online portal (not council) and I live 250 miles away

stevemLS

You are not "giving" money away, you are paying your rent.

hollibobs_2

I would ring then up to see if this is still owed and if so pay it off rather than it bite you in the butt a few years from now :eek:

AutumnWinter

stevemLS wrote: »

You are not "giving" money away, you are paying your rent.

If they don't want it (without prompting) then it's like giving it to them.


I do get your point but I think you also get where I'm coming from.

If someone said, 'hey, you owed £5000 on a credit card, but we forgot about it and won't chase you for it - it's forgotton about' would you still choose to pay it?




*edit* - I have said countless times I fully intend to pay it if I have to. I'm not complaining about it (I'm well aware it's rent - no emphasis needed) I'm just trynig to suss my situation

-taff

If the last payment was suposed to be in January, they may have already instructed a DCA to find you.
Check your credit record.

You didn't provide them with a forwarding address, you didn't get in touch with them via phone call or letter, and you 'oops' forgot to pay the last payment.

You'd better make an attempt to find out if they have sent your debt to a DCA because if they have and you 'oops' put your heads in the sand, when you come back it'll be 6 years before you can get anything but the most basic credit.