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Paying your rent is your most important responsibility. We need your rent to manage and maintain your home. Without the rent paid by our tenants we cannot pay for repairs to your home, pay our staff, maintain our offices or repay the loans which we used to build or buy our properties.

How to pay your Rent

Your Tenancy Agreement says that rent is due weekly or monthly in advance. You can choose the way of paying that suits you best.

Direct Debit
If you have a bank account, the best way of paying is by weekly or monthly Direct Debit. We can supply the Direct Debit form and calculate the monthly figure for you. Please phone the Customer Services Centre if you would like to pay this way.

In the Post Office
We will send you a plastic rent payment card. You can use this to pay your rent by cash or cheque in the Post Office. You will be given a receipt by the Post Office.

At any shop showing the PayPoint or payzone sign Using your plastic payment card you can make payments in cash at any shop showing the ‘PayPoint’ or ‘payzone’ sign. The shop will give you a receipt.

By telephone
If you have a credit or debit card you can pay your rent over the telephone by ringing 0870 243 6040. Please make sure you have your rent payment card handy when you call

Via the Internet
You can pay using your debit or credit card by logging on to www.allpay.net and clicking the ‘make a payment button’. Please make sure you have your rent payment card handy.

At our offices
If you prefer, you can send or bring a cheque to our offices in Sydenham. We cannot accept cash and would prefer you to pay by Direct Debit or using your rent payment card.

By Standing Order
We can supply you with a Standing Order form if you would like to pay this way. However, we would prefer you to pay by Direct Debit so that the amount can be changed when your rent changes, without you having to take any action.

Housing Benefit
If you are entitled to full or part Housing Benefit, payments will normally be sent straight to us. If you are only entitled to part Housing Benefit, it may be paid directly to you and you will need to make your own payments by Direct Debit or by using your rent payment card.

If you are having problems paying your rent
It is very important that you let us know straightaway if you are having trouble paying your rent. We can advise you on your entitlement to state benefits and we can help you fill in forms. We can refer you for debt counselling if you have other debts. We understand that there may be times when you genuinely have difficulties paying your rent. We will listen to the reasons you give us and we can make an arrangement with you for you to make up any missed payments of rent by instalments, but we expect you to clear your account as quickly as possible.

How you can check your rent account balance
We will send you a statement of your account every quarter. You can ask the Customer Desk or your Housing Officer to send you a statement at any time or you can get a balance over the phone. (We may some security questions first.) We will send a statement of account with most of our letters to you about rent arrears.

If You do not Pay your Rent.
We will do all we can to help you if you fall behind with your rent payments but it is vital that we collect rent from our tenants in order to maintain the service which we give as a landlord. If you persistently do not pay your rent on time, or if you do not keep to an arrangement you have made to make up missed payments we will follow our procedure to recover arrears.

We will:

• remind you by letter that rent payments have been missed.
• try to contact you to discuss the arrears, if you don’t contact us.
• serve a Notice of Seeking Possession to warn you that legal proceeding may be started.
• give you a written warning and give you a final opportunity to make up any payments which you have missed before applying to court.
• get a Possession Order in the County Court with a Money Judgement for the arrears and an order for the costs of taking the proceedings. The Costs will be added to your rent arrears.
• give you written warning before applying to the court for your eviction and give you a final opportunity to bring your payments back in line with the court order.
• get approval of our director before applying for your eviction
• evict you if you do not keep to the terms of the Possession Order.
• use debt collectors, if necessary, to collect the money you owe us if you leave the property.

DON’T LOSE YOUR HOME PAY YOUR RENT!

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