Leaseholders

The Government has recently said it plans to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants. At this stage, there are no more details available. For this to happen, there will need to be a change in legislation. Until then, the only scheme available to housing association tenants is the Right to Acquire scheme. We will keep you updated on any changes in the future.

Shared ownership customers must pay rent and service charges alongside any mortgage, in line with the terms of your lease or covenant.

If you’re struggling to pay your rent or service charges, we’re here to help so visit our Contact Us page to get in touch with our Income Management Team as early as possible to discuss your options.

We can help you to find additional support and setup payment plans to help you keep your home. We want to avoid having to take steps to recover the amount owed if payments are missed (repossession of your home is only used as a last resort).

You are required to pay a minimum of one month's rent when you complete your home purchase and encouraged to set up a direct debit for future payments. 

What happens if my account falls into arrears?

Your Income Officer will contact you, either by text, letter, email or telephone, to make you aware and help make arrangements for you to clear the outstanding amount. 

If you are unable to pay the outstanding amount in full, we will put in place a payment plan with a direct debit for a set amount on a set date. If you miss one payment of the plan, we will ask you to contact your Income Adviser.

If your payment plan runs over March, when changes to your rent and service charges take effect, we will amend any direct debits accordingly and you will be notified of your new payment amounts via a letter from Allpay.

Failure to maintain your payment plan, or if you do not agree with your plan, results in automatic escalation of the arrears recovery process. 

We escalate the process to the next stage where you will be issued with a Section 166, Form of Rent Demand Notice. This will be served to all parties where there is more than one resident listed, but addressed to the name of the leaseholder.

When we issue a Section 166, we may also contact your mortgage lender with a copy of your rent statement showing one year's worth of history. We will always let you know that we have done this.

We may arrange a visit to your home to try and further support you in paying your outstanding arrears or setting up a payment plan (clearing your arrears within a maximum period of three months). 

If you are experiencing financial hardship and unable to repay within the three months, we will send an accurate income and expenditure form for you to complete. Consideration will be given to extending the period only in extenuating circumstances.                                                        

We will continually monitor your plan and if we still do not hear from you or you breach the payment plan, the next stage will be legal action.

A letter outlining the legal action due to be taken will be sent to you and your mortgage lender, including details of the legal service costs and any interest applied if the payment is not received by the deadline date. The two legal routes that can be taken are detailed below:

1. County Court - an application can be made to obtain a money judgement for the debt, known as a Count Court Judgement (CCJ). If payment is not made in accordance with the CCJ it can be enforced in several ways:

• Information Order - the shared owner is ordered to attend court to be questioned on oath by a court officer. Information can be obtained including employment status, details of employer and salary, details of bank account and their balances, additional incomes, etc.
• Charging order
• Attachment of earnings
• Bailiff action
• Recovering the debt from the bank or building society accounts
• Bankruptcy

2. Forfeiture

• We may seek to repossess your home once the debt is over £350 and/or has been outstanding for more than three years. We will only do this if you have agreed the breach of arrears has occurred, or if the breach has been finally determined by a tribunal or court. The quickest and easiest way of determining the breach is by obtaining a CCJ, the other option is to get a determination from the First Tier Tribunal (FTT).
• If you have a mortgage secured on the home, a Section 146 Notice will be served and must be sent to the lender. This will often prompt the lender to protect their interest in the property by clearing the debt on the mortgagor's behalf and adding this to the mortgage debt.
• We will grant your lender at least 28days written notice of our intention to commence possession proceedings under the Housing Act 1988. In this time your lender will write to you or consider paying the arrears on your behalf and adding this balance to any outstanding mortgage. 
• Once a Section 146 Notice has been issued, we will be unable to enter into any further communications with you to avoid jeopardising validity of the notice prior to the Court Hearing.
• If your arrears are not cleared after 28days, we will write to you and inform you of the time and date that we will exchange keys and arrange for the locks to be changed. If the property is not vacated in line with the court order an application for a Warrant of Possession will be made for a bailiff appointment.
• We will meet the bailiff (who is responsible for gaining access) and a locksmith at the property, at which point eviction will take place. All property left in the home will be photographed/documented and removed within 48hours of the eviction. A sign will be fixed to the property with information on the reason for the eviction and who to contact. If you are present at the time of eviction, we will ask you to sign a property disposal form and we will take back any communal entrance fobs.
• We may make a referral to the local authority to inform them of you household make up, the reason for the eviction and when it will be taking place. We will advise you to seek independent legal advice if you wish to stop the eviction and inform the bailiffs of any disability conditions or health and safety risks that are known to us. 

This guidance is written in accordance with regulatory and legislative requirements. It is our responsibility to fulfil our information sharing agreement with key agencies and contractors to share information in relation to the delivery of our services. We only share relevant information which adheres to the Data Protection Procedure. You can find out more about how we manage your data in our privacy statement. It is your responsibility to contact your mortgage lender if you are struggling with your mortgage payments.