Paying Online
Rent Arrears
Getting into Debt
Tenancy Support Services

Benefits Advice
First Contacts
Notice Seeking Possession
Legal Action
Eviction

Online rent payment is brought to you by BHA, the Post Office and AllPay. You can now pay your rent securely at any time of the day or night. If you have paid your rent online before, please click here or visist www.allpayments.net

Registration and account set up does take a few minutes, but you only need to do it once. After that, all you will need to pay your rent online are:

• Your swipe card or your tenancy reference number (this can be found on your quarterly rent statement)
• Your debit card

Please note
If you are considering paying off your arrears with a debit card, contact us first. We can help with advice on how to make an agreement to pay your arrears by manageable installments via direct debit.

Rent collection is crucial. To maintain our services, we must collect the rent due to us. However, we do appreciate that people have financial problems from time to time, and our staff are trained to offer a supportive, helpful service.

Checks on rent are carried out on a continual basis. Legal action will normally be taken when an account is over eight weeks in arrears. If you cannot pay your rent for whatever reason, please contact your Income Recovery Officer immediately.

If you are having any issuses with debt or claiming benefits our in-house Tenancy Support Service can assist you.

If you wish to speak to one our our Tenancy Support workers contact either your Income Recovery Officer or Customer Services 0303 303 0003

For more information visit the Tenant Support page

You might have problems because you are not receiving all the benefits you are entitled to. We can give you advice on this. There are also agencies like the citizens advice bureau and your local council who can advise you.

The first stage will be a letter requesting payment of your arrears. Arrangements can be made to pay in installments. If there is no response, a Notice Seeking Possession will be sent to you.

This is a legal document. It is the first stage in the legal process which could result in you losing your home. Do not ignore it.

The Notice Seeking Possession means that we give you notice that we intend to take legal action. It is vital that you reach an agreement to repay your debt before we take further action.

The Notice Seeking Possession remains in force for 12 months. This means that if you reach an agreement to pay by installments, we can take action if you break that agreement.

If your debt continues to grow without further communication with us, we will have no option but to take legal action. This might be:

• By a claim in the Small Claims Court for the debt
• By an application for a Possession Order to take back your home

If we are applying for legal action we will contact you and you will receive information from the court. It is important that you attend court to put your point of view. You will also have to pay the legal costs of the case.

At any time you can contact us to make an agreement to pay. Usually at court the judge will grant us possession of your home, but will not allow us to take further action as long as you pay an agreed amount per week. You must pay these installments or you will lose your home.

The final stage in the legal process occurs if you do not keep up payments under a court order. We will ask for the Possession Order to be enforced. The court bailiffs will visit you at home and let you know when you have to leave.

We are willing to negotiate any agreements to prevent eviction, but at this stage you will have to pay a lump sum if your debt has significantly increased.

If you cannot pay any sum of money, the eviction will go ahead. You could then find that you cannot get accommodation from other landlords because you have been evicted for not paying your rent.

You should then contact your local council's Homelessness Section who might be able to help you with temporary accommodation.

At Broadland Housing Association, it is our policy to keep people in their homes - but unless you contact us for advice and keep to any negotiated agreements, you will lose your home.If you are having trouble paying your rent, contact us IMMEDIATELY. We will do everything we can to help you - 0303 303 0003