The Wrekin Housing Trust has a responsibility to ensure that all payments are made in line with ‘tenants obligations’ under your tenancy agreement. We will make sure that you can make payments conveniently and in a variety of ways; we will always offer advice and assistance if you experience difficulty in making payments. We will take prompt and firm recovery action against persistent non-payers.

We have a service standard that outlines how we will deal with rent arrears as follows:

Income Management Service Standards

Our commitment to you……

…… We Will

Take a firm but fair approach to tenants who owe money to us.

Offer you the choice of how to make payments. These can be made by:-

• By Direct Debit
• On Line:- www.wrekinhousingtrust.org.uk
• Debit Card over the telephone - 217111 between 8am and 6pm
• Bank Standing Order
• Post Office by using your swipe card
• Payzones

We will provide you with a quarterly statement of your account.

We will give you every opportunity to ask for advice and assistance to discuss any difficulties that you may have with keeping your payments up to date.

We will offer you access to a team of Welfare Benefit Advisors who offer a free and confidential service to anyone who needs help with finding out what benefits you may be entitled to.

If you require any extra support we will refer you to our housing support service.  This is a confidential service designed to give you advice and assistance to enable you to maintain your tenancy and live independently in the community.

If you fall into debt, we will:- Get in touch with you immediately either by telephone, letter or a visit to your home.

Enforcement

If your account falls into debt, we will

• Take legal action against you which may lead to you losing your home
• Prevent you from getting a transfer to another property
• Not allow you to rent a garage

When you contact us, we will

• Reply to your written enquiries within 5 working days
• Give you a contact name and a telephone numbers in letters we send to you

You have a responsibility to:-

• Ensure that your rent payments are paid in advance in accordance with your tenancy agreement and that all other balances are clear on your account.
• Contact us straight away on Tel: 217100 if you have any difficulties paying so that we can advise and help you at an early stage before the arrears become out of control.