Notice of seeking possession

robin_green

Hey. we've had an ongoing arrears for the past 2 years.
Please let me explain:

Our rent is paid by our local council directly to genesis housing.

Genesis housing says we are in debt with our rent by £1080.

Our local council claims to of paid the rent every month, including those claimed to be missing by genesis housing.

Both sides blame each other, and now we have received a notice of seeking posession.

Everytime i have contacted genesis housing i have been told it would be looked into. keeping in mind this has been ongoing for a period of 2 years.

Genesis housing has made no progress regarding this missing rent, and now i am worried that we will be getting evicited. I care for my grandmother who is 79 years old, she cant walk, she can't do anything by herself. she doesn't even know where she is half of the time.

Please. How do i fix this? Do i even have enough time?

Should i start making payments untill i can get it solved?

This is the email i recieved today:

Due to the outstanding balance on your rent account a Notice of Seeking Possession (NOSP) was served on you on .

This notice becomes effective on 16 December 2019 at which point Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) can apply to the County Court to obtain a Possession Order. This could result in a County Court Judgment against you, court costs being added to your account and, ultimately, the loss of your home.

At the moment, your arrears are at a level where a Judge will have discretion over whether a court order is granted against you. If your arrears continue to escalate then we will have no choice but to serve a second NOSP on Grounds 8, 10 & 11 which, should certain conditions apply at court, will entitle NHG to a mandatory right of possession of your home.

It is important you make immediate arrangements to clear this debt, either in a one-off payment or by manageable instalments, agreed with me.

I have enclosed an income and expenditure form for you to complete and return to me within 7 days of receiving this letter. This will help us to assess how much you can realistically afford to pay on a regular basis.


Advice & support

As a Notting Hill Genesis tenant you have access to Notting Hill Genesis’s Tenancy Support Network where you can access help with employment, debt, budgeting and more. If you want to access this support please visit x or get in touch with me.

[Contact details removed by Forum Team]


I really have no idea on what to do. other than to pay what they are asking, but like i said. our council says the rent was paid!!

Please. what is the next step i should take? i only have 1 month to make sure we dont get evicted!!

[Deleted User]

Yes start making payments. Are you sure you get your full rent paid? It's not unusual that you would have to pay a little towards your rent. Even a small amount can build up arrears like this if not paid every week.

robin_green

They claim the rent is missing on specific months, but the council claims to of paid that rent.

silvercar

Our local council claims to of paid the rent every month, including those claimed to be missing by genesis housing.

One or other has their facts wrong. Get an account statement from the council and show it to Genesis as a starting point.

GDB2222

It’s quite likely that the housing association has hundreds or even thousands of receipts that have not been matched up to individual accounts for some reason. It must be a nightmare for their accounts department.

Murphybear

Hi

I’m sorry to hear of your problem

I think the first thing you must do is get a list of payments made over the last 2 years, from the Council and the Housing Association. You will need these in writing.

If the Council swear blind they have made the payments you should take the HA list and show it to them. It sounds like one of them has made a mistake, that’s not unknown with councils.

If neither of them give way I think you should get an appointment with Citizens Advice, they are normally quite helpful.

I would normally suggest going to your MP, unfortunately at the moment you don’t technically have one

Complete the form the HA have sent you. Make sure you put down everything that you can think of, this is quite important.

My experience of Housing Associations is that they don’t really want to evict you, they would rather get the issue resolved.

Let us know how you get on

robin_green

Thank you very much for the replies, it is very stressful, every time i have contacted genesis i was told it would be resolved.

I will visit the council and citizens advice on monday, thank you.

_shel previously suggested i start making payments, would this be a good idea to buy some time?

Im under the assumption if i start paying the arrears it would mean i have legally accepted the terms of the arrears?

Would i be able to reclaim the payments if and when this get resolved? thank you people for your replies

G_M

Get a written statement from the council of all the payments they have made, with amounts and dates.

That will either confirm or contradict the HA's claim.

If it contradicts, then make a copy (keep the original) and send/take it to the HA showing the payments they claim are missing.
If it confirms, then start paying it immediately.

As said above, it is not uncommon for the amount the council contributes to not be be the exact same amount as he rent. If it is a litle less, then over time considerable arrears can build up.

Since the HA has told you you are entitled to help from Notting Hill Genesis’s Tenancy Support Network, why are you not asking them for help?

As for the suggestion that we email C.Brown that is both pointless and niaive.

GDB2222

Actually, getting a few hundred emails would concentrate Mr Brown's mind on sorting this issue out.

The HA has a complaints procedure, and the OP could invoke this. If necessary, taking this to the Ombudsman.

https://www.gov.uk/housing-association-homes/complaints


Of course, as others have said, the Council payments may be short by a small amount each month, or there may really be missing months, in which case the OP will need to agree a plan for paying off the arrears.

pmlindyloo

As advised, on Monday you need to telephone Mr. Brown and explain your concerns about these rent arrears.

To prove you have no rent arrears then you are definitely going to need evidence of the rent that has been paid (and the dates) from the council plus the evidence from the housing association of the rent payments received. Ask Mr Brown to send the latter.

Also tell Mr brown that you are making an appointment with Citizens Advice to support you with this as this matter has been going on for two years with no conclusion (or evidence, I presume).

Ask Mr Brown to put a 'hold' on any action to be taken until this matter has been resolved. Make sure that he writes a note on your file to this end. Make a note of the day, time and person(s) you speak to of the phone call. Also ask him to send a letter confirming that no further action will be taken until you have all the evidence necessary.

I would not pay any money towards the arrears unless they absolutely insist as it is likely that in the event you do not owe any money this will not be returned but will be used as 'credit' on your rent account. Since the HA is paid directly by the council you will have no control over this.

Since the HA is saying that certain months have been missed then it does seem peculiar.

Has your HA changed in the time that you have claimed? Did it stop and then start again for any reason? HB is paid in arrears so if you had breaks in your claim then this may account for the missing months.

If you do owe rent arrears and it is your error then if you need financial help you can pay it back in instalments.

HampshireH

Im under the assumption if i start paying the arrears it would mean i have legally accepted the terms of the arrears? The rent is the tenants responsibility legally regardless of where the money comes from.
It is the tenants responsibility to ensure it is paid and not falling into arrears. Legally the tenant has signed the contract

Would i be able to reclaim the payments if and when this get resolved? thank you people for your replies

Yes most likely once proven

It is bad advice to not pay. You have a tenancy agreement which most likely states your rent is paid weekly. You are responsible to do so.

They have a conplaints procedure. Go through it.

However before you do I would suggest asking for the last 2 years of weekly rent statements from genesis and the payment confirmation for 2 years from the council. You should also have your award letter which says how much will get paid