Need Advice

CLLC

Hi Mse's,

I am on the verge of eviction due to unpaid rent. Let mW give you some background.

I live in a housing association house and have done all my life, I live with my mother, brother and sister all adults. Due to financial difficulty we have been unable to pay the rent and as such we have been refered to the housing associations legal department who will apply for reposition.

The current debt is £1500 which I am now able to begin to pay towards. The letters we get though are addressed to my mother and me. I have never signed a tenancy agreement as from 18-now i was never asked to sign one. but my fear is they will apply for a Ccj in my name and my mothers to try claim back the rent. Am i accountable legally, can I have my credit rating effected by a ccj although I haven't signed a tenancy?

I have tried hard to build my credit score back up in hopes of a mortgage in the future. It has only just got better. I really don't want a ccj. Can I be legally held responsible for this debt or just my mother?

Thanks for any advice.

princeofpounds

If you are not a tenant, it is not your liability.

Though you have to question how they even have your details if you are not a tenant. Have you ever paid rent directly yourself?

Surely between the three of you it would have been possible to raise money to pay the rent, or at least start paying it before it got to this point. It is a priority obligation and there aren't many things that should ever come before it.

I am not criticising, but a little background might be helpful to suggest ways to improve the situation.

Shelldean

I have no idea about the rent situation but I also rent from a HA and to answer princeofpounds comment - if I look at my account online it lists everyone who lives in the property both over and under 18.

I know when I moved in I had to list every one moving in with me, and when.youngest was born I guess I notified them? ( But am unsure as it was 16 yrs ago)
So presume that's how they got their list?

princeofpounds

if I look at my account online it lists everyone who lives in the property both over and under 18.

Suspect you are right in terms of how they got their list. But I am pretty sure it doesn't make them a tenant, unless something else happened in the interim (and that is not necessarily just signing a contract, tenancies can be established in other ways)

anselld

How come the combined income of four adults is not enough to pay one social housing rent? The siblings are all contributing to rent and bills, right?

Surely you should *all* be working out a repayment plan rather than working out who gets the CCJ!

G_M

I imagine as you were registered at the property as a resident, when you hit 18 you became a tenant.

Read the tenancy agreement.

I'm not familiar with HA tenancies, but there may well be a clsue in the contract, if not somewhere in the Housing Act....

You will not get a CCJ just for arrears (though it may show on your credit history). For a CCJ, you would have to

a) be ordered to pay by a court AND
b) still fail to pay

But the solutio is for the family to pay off the debt asap.

princeofpounds

I imagine as you were registered at the property as a resident, when you hit 18 you became a tenant.

I really don't think it can work like that (though I could be mistaken - I don't know for sure).

When under 18, you cannot form a contract. When over 18, there needs to be both an agreement and consideration to form a contract. There appears to have been neither of those (although as I have stated there may have been in a way we don't know about yet)

Really don't think you can become a tenant by virtue of occupancy and majority.

G_M

princeofpounds wrote: »

I really don't think it can work like that (though I could be mistaken - I don't know for sure).

When under 18, you cannot form a contract. When over 18, there needs to be both an agreement and consideration to form a contract. There appears to have been neither of those (although as I have stated there may have been in a way we don't know about yet)

Really don't think you can become a tenant by virtue of occupancy and majority.

You could be right. But if the OP has been paying (all/part of) the rent, then there is Consideration, and implicit agreement.....

princeofpounds

But if the OP has been paying (all/part of) the rent, then there is Consideration, and implicit agreement.....

yep, possible.