I owe thousands in rent arrears

Millerblade270608

Hello.

I need some advice. We are private renting. We have been in the same house for 7 years. We had a contract for the first 3 months then no contract ever since.

1 year ago we ended up in arrears of £1100 which at the beginning of this year we still were in arrears of.

Since April we have not paid any rent. (7 months) Yes I know we are awful people and bad tenants. There are many reasons why. I wont go into them because quote frankly I know how awful people we are for not paying and our life this year has been worse than poo!

We owe £5400 including Octobee

Our landlord in the last 7 months has NEVER made contact.

Today I made contact with our landlord. He was awarw we owe over £5000 howevee never said why he haant started eviction notice or why he hasnt been in touch with us in all these months.

He said our best option is to pay a large chunk of the money off and up our rent. Is which already very high at £600 or move out find somwwhere else and pay him monthly the arrears back.

It seems so odd he never contacted us.

What should be do? I dont have thousands of pounds.

I want to jump off a cliff. My life is awful

gingercordial

Millerblade270608 wrote: »

Hello.

I need some advice. We are private renting. We have been in the same house for 7 years. We had a contract for the first 3 months then no contract ever since.

1 year ago we ended up in arrears of £1100 which at the beginning of this year we still were in arrears of.

Since April we have not paid any rent. (7 months) Yes I know we are awful people and bad tenants. There are many reasons why. I wont go into them because quote frankly I know how awful people we are for not paying and our life this year has been worse than poo!

We owe £5400 including Octobee

Our landlord in the last 7 months has NEVER made contact.

Today I made contact with our landlord. He was awarw we owe over £5000 howevee never said why he haant started eviction notice or why he hasnt been in touch with us in all these months.

He said our best option is to pay a large chunk of the money off and up our rent. Is which already very high at £600 or move out find somwwhere else and pay him monthly the arrears back.

It seems so odd he never contacted us.

What should be do? I dont have thousands of pounds.

I want to jump off a cliff. My life is awful

I think your best bet is to head over to the Debt Free Wannabe board on here, as I expect rent isn't your only debt (because usually this kind of situation goes hand in hand with other debt). There you will find the experts at looking at the whole situation and who have advice on the various debt advisory charities and your options. I expect they will suggest you post a statement of affairs (SOA) to look at all your income and outgoings and get a true picture of where you are and what you can do about it.

There will be a solution. It doesn't have to involve jumping off a cliff. It can get better.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

HampshireH

You need some real debt management advice from specialist advisors. The CAB (or maybe others) should be able to point you in the right direction.

Odd your LL hasn't made contact. If you have such high rent arrears or you not working etc? In debt with other companies?

Is there any income coming into the household to pay some of the debt?

Why dont you think you dont have a tenancy agreement? Did your 3 month one not roll to a monthly one??

Your 'LL can't just increase the rent without complying with the notice period written into the agreement.

Have you applied for housing benefit?

Millerblade270608

Hi.

Does a rolling one mean no paper? The only contract I had which we signed was the one 7 years ago for 3 months. Signed nothinf after.

My husband was working, earning £230 a week. I wasnt earninflg due to ill health. We got no benefits as he wasnt working. I was on esa for a short while until my stamps run out but we our money only covered food and my husbands car to work ans bar3 basics.

We went bankrupt in 2010 and thinj we may have to do it again. I have such bad health my life never gets any better!

G_M

Of course you have a contract. When your fixed term (3 months) ended you moved to either a Contractual Periodic Tenancy or a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. See here for more legal stuff:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

But none of that really matters. I agree it is amazing your landlord has not been in touch, or taken any action.

Also amazing how laid back he seems to be now (if your description is accurate). So he's just asked you to pay a lump sum, and/or move out, and pay the rest over time?

No S8 eviction Notice served? You are very lucky.

But he's right. If you want to stay there, then you're going to have to find some money and pay enough to satisfy him, plus agree a payment plan going forward.

Or move out, find somewhere cheaper, and pay him over time.

Or declare bankrupcy or whatever. But as others have said, you ned advice not just on housing but on debt management overall.

RedFraggle

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/money-and-mental-health/money-and-mental-health/?o=6851#.We-r_bVrxdg
https://www.samaritans.org/
https://www.mind.org.uk/

Cakeguts

Have you tried going to CAB to see if there is anything else you should be claiming?

silvercar

Either the landlord is keeping this property for capital growth or he has some other reason with not being too bothered about the rent!

It could be that he pays a very high rate of tax and the money won't make that much difference to him.

Maybe other than the rent you are good tenants? Not bothering him with minor problems etc Whatever the reason, he seems not to have a major issue with the rent arrears, so don't make yourself ill over it.

In your shoes, I would do everything in my power to stay put. A landlord like you have won't be so easy to find again.

Sort out the debt problems, agree a repayment strategy, make sure you are claiming all the benefits you should.

ProDave

This thread is a wind up right?

Your tenancy would have been for 6 or 12 months initially not 3.

No landlord would let thousands of rent arrears build up without taking some action.

Sorry but I smell a troll.

theartfullodger

ProDave wrote: »

This thread is a wind up right?

Your tenancy would have been for 6 or 12 months initially not 3.

No landlord would let thousands of rent arrears build up without taking some action.

Sorry but I smell a troll.

Tenancy can be valid if only 1day, 1 week, 1 month. Doesn't have to be 6 or 12 months.

People do miss things. I had new tenant, paid, moved in, forgot to pay, I forgot to check & 6 months later realised, wrote to him, he paid in full 3 days later. It happens (silly me!)

Arleen

Or landlord simply knows that getting all antsy won't help him solve the issue one bit.

@OP you are not a horrible person, everyone can fall onto tough times and or make less than perfect decisions. There is no shame in that and we are here to help you. And we will be able to help you best at debt free wannabe, so please make a post there: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76 ideally with a SOA: http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php