Problems paying your rent
Do you need help with your housing or rent costs?
Are rising costs or reduction in income making it difficult for you to maintain your tenancy?
If so then help is available.
- For Caerphilly Council Tenants text RENTHELP to 81400
- For all other tenants and homeowners text HOUSUPPORT to 81400
A member of staff will call you back.
If you get into arrears – Don't ignore it!
The tenancy conditions you sign at the start of your tenancy mean that by law, you must pay your rent regularly and not get into arrears. It is your responsibility to keep your rent account up to date.
The most important thing is to make contact with the Rents Section immediately for advice before the debt gets too large for you to deal with. Call 01443 811450 or text RENTHELP to 81400 and a member of staff will call you back. If you do not contact us, we will contact you either in writing or by phone.
You need to pay the arrears as quickly as possible, ideally in one payment, to clear the whole amount.
We will always be sympathetic to your problems and generally an agreement to clear the debt can be made. We will tell you how to make a claim for housing benefit and also give you information about counselling services such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.
We also offer a free confidential advice and support service with an independent debt and money advisor for anyone in rent arrears or likely to get into arrears.
If you don't clear your arrears
We will contact you by phone, letter or visit you at home to discuss your arrears, arrange payment and resolve any other problems.
If this action is not successful we will serve a 'Notice of Seeking Possession'. This is a legal notice telling you that we intend to take legal action if you do not pay your arrears.
If you do not arrange to pay off the arrears, we will apply to the county court for a possession order for the rent you owe. We will tell you, in writing, about all the stages of legal action and what is likely to happen.
We will do all we can to recover rent arrears. We do not want to evict you but will if you do not clear your arrears. Even when you have been evicted, we will try to recover the rent arrears and court costs you built up while you were a tenant.
What if I am waiting for housing benefit to be paid?
We will not usually take legal action against you if we know you are waiting for a claim to be sorted out and you are making payments but you should contact us.
Former tenancy rent arrears
When a tenant ends their tenancy they become a former tenant. If you owe us money when your tenancy ends we will contact you to make an agreement to repay the debt. If this fails we will take legal action to get the money owed to us.
To make sure you do not get into rent arrears when you move out, contact us and tell us when you intend to move out. We will then tell you how much rent is due to the end of the tenancy.
Our information leaflet entitled, 'Former Tenancy Rent Arrears' explains the process.
Good reasons not to get into rent arrears
As well as risking being evicted from your home, there are other reasons why you should avoid getting behind with your rent.
- You may have trouble getting credit (including loans or hire purchase) because a possession order will be revealed in a credit enquiry
- You may not be able to get a mortgage or other loan
- You will not be allowed to rent a garage
- You will not be able to buy your home under the right to buy if you break the conditions of a possession order
- If you are evicted for rent arrears, we will not normally re-house you