Rent.

barmy_banno

Hello. 
Firstly thank you for taking your time to reading this. I have only posted on here as we am still unable to see CAB or housing due to covid and we need to make an appointment etc. 

A friend of mine contacted about her rent and the way a certain housing association are forcing her to pay more rent than required. To cut a long story short, she went into arrears to no fault of her own and tried her best to get on top. It went to court and she was given a saving grace and kept her home and had to payback the arrears which she has now done and her statements are now back in the black. This company are still demanding her to pay an extra £400 on top of her normal rent and this is happening monthly. She is barely struggling as she has a small part time job of 15 hrs p/w plus benefits for the children and housing benefit. I contacted the housing company on her behalf and the reply was basically she still had to pay the extra and they won't budge. They also claim that it's best for her to keep paying as they don't want to see the account to go back into the red again. They can see the money has been going in on time and she has not failed any payments. I am wondering for her sake that is the legal for them to continue to take the extra £400 per month? 

pluto261

Uh, I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Continuing to demand money after a debt has been fully paid off is what loan sharks do.

What kind of housing association is this?

pramsay13

Are they trying to build up a surplus?

Tell her just to pay what she owes and then stop. Make sure each subsequent payment that is owed is paid in time but don't pay any extra.

barmy_banno

The company is Hyde Housing. 
Every payment was on time and there was no issues at all. She has told me that she is now 400+ in credit at the moment and she has been in the black for for nearly a month now. I did have a think and email them again on her behalf once it's been a complete month and say that she's all paid up and she is X amount in credit, what is the score ? I may even drop a seed that she is going to seek advice from either CAB or the council as this isn't fair for her. Ok she was in debt but she has cleared it all so why do they want more? 

HampshireH

Is that definately what they are asking, rather than being a month ahead?

The tenant agreement probably says payment in advance if paid monthly or weekly (newer ones may be different). Many HAs accept that housing benefit as it was is paid in arrears. 

Seems very very strange for such a large HA to be asking for rent plus £400 a monthly consistently.

barmy_banno

Her rent is monthly and in advance. 
The emails to one of their income officers state that they are not dropping the extra payments. They are very vague. Basically they say they are keeping the DD in place as they don't want the rent to go back into the red.