Section: Housing & Estate Management
New Protocol for Rent Arrears Cases
The Pre-Action Protocol for Rent Arrears was added to court rules and came into force on 2 October 2006. It is directly applicable to all rent arrears-based possession claims issued by social landlords. The aim is to encourage more contact between landlords and tenants before court action is taken. Courts are required to take account of whether the protocol has been followed when deciding on what Order to make.
The key features of the protocol are:
Landlords should contact tenants as soon as possible after arrears accrue and discuss causes, benefits available, and options for resolving the situation. Agreed repayment plans must be affordable and take proper account of the tenant's income and expenditure patterns.
Landlords must ensure the tenant understands all information provided.
Landlords must assist tenants in claiming Housing Benefit and, where applicable, arrange for direct payments to be paid to the landlord. Landlords should also assist in resolving any Housing Benefit problems.
Landlords must not instigate claims for possession where it can be shown that there is a pending Housing Benefit claim with a reasonable expectation of the tenant being eligible. The tenant must be able to demonstrate that the claim has been submitted. This guidance does not apply to landlords' claims not covered by Housing Benefit payments.
Quarterly rent statements must be produced, showing the amount due and payments made during the past 13 weeks.
Landlords should advise tenants with rent arrears to consult a debt advice agency, as other debts may be a problem.
Following service of a Notice of Seeking Possession and before starting court action, a landlord must contact the tenant and discuss the arrears, repayment proposals and progress in claiming Housing Benefit.
Where the tenant is complying with a reasonable pattern of arrears repayment, court action should not be progressed.
Even in the absence of satisfactory repayment arrangements being adhered to, the landlord must advise the tenant to comply with such arrangements and afford reasonable time to do so before instigating court action.
If court action is started, the landlord must give details of the date and time of the hearing to the tenant, as well as warn of the consequences of losing the home. A file record must be kept of such notifications.
The landlord must provide the tenant with updated rent statements and a disclosure of the knowledge of the tenant's Housing Benefit position at least ten days before the date of the court hearing.
If after the issue of court action, the tenant agrees to comply with a repayment agreement, then the court action should be postponed.
Where subsequently an agreement falls through and the landlord decides to reinstate the court action, then the tenant must be advised of this and given time to comply with the failed agreement.
A court can take into consideration whether or not a landlord has complied with the protocol and where it considers there has been unreasonable failure to do so, it can dismiss the claim and, in certain cases, impose an Order for costs.
© Copyright 1996 - 2008 UK Housing Ltd. Housing Monthly Diary
Issue: November 2006 Reporting on Sept.-October 2006
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