Falling behind with your rent & other debts
We understand why many households fall behind with rent payments.
Helping you to keep up with rent payments is better for us and you, than chasing you for rent once you have fallen behind (known as ‘arrears recovery’).
We give you information regarding your rent account and payment of rent and service charges, if appropriate, from the time you receive the keys to the property.
As soon as rent accounts show arrears of over two weeks charges, we ensure swift and appropriate action is taken. We contact you, in writing, by telephone, by text, and/or by visiting you at home. We ask you to complete an income and expenditure form, to assist in seeing how your income is made up and how your money is spent. We may refer you to our Money matters adviser if we feel this is appropriate.
Where preventative measures and financial counselling fail, all legal measures available to Magna will be used to recover the debt.
If we are unable to make contact with you, or we are unable to agree a repayment schedule and the arrears continue to increase to more than four weeks arrears, we may issue a notice seeking possession. This is the first step in the legal process to regain possession of the property.
If you expect to receive monies which will enable you to repay the debt in full - such as housing benefit, wages, benefit payment, inheritance, please provide evidence to us and legal action may be stopped until the date the payment is expected. After that we will review your situation.
The notice is valid for 12 months, and if received, you should contact us to discuss your situation and the arrears. If after one month, no progress has been made in reducing the arrears, we may refer the matter to the local court.
Debt
Debt is any amount of money that is owed to someone else and is caused by many reasons. This may be because of low income, difficulty budgeting, unexpected bills or lack of priority.
Many companies specialise in helping people budget and repaying debt, however many of these companies charge for their assistance – spending money that can be better spent paying off debts.
Companies that can offer genuine assistance for free »
What you should do if you are in debt
Don't ignore the debt, burying your head in the sand won’t make it go away! Contact the person, company or landlord you owe monies to without delay.
Think: where does your money come from? Do you qualify for any benefits to increase your income? You can check this at the Entitled To website » or the Direct Gov website »
Where does your money go? Can you cut out or down on any expenses? Do a budget plan and think what your priorities are – get a plan form from Magna or CAB »
Priority debts are:
*Rent * Council tax * Fines * Utility bills *
Finally, be honest with the person you owe money to. They may not be able to ignore the debt, but as a company they need the money to provide the service they offer or as an individual they have saved the money or not had a treat in order to help you.
Phone the income management team on 01305 216067 or email us for assistance and guidance. |