Recovering Unpaid Rent
E-mail: rents@eastdevon.gov.uk
If you fail to pay your rent, we will take the following actions:
- You will be sent reminder letters. You may also receive a home visit. You may also require some information about debt advice. Please click here for more information about debt advice.
- If the reminders are ignored we may serve you with a Notice of Seeking Possession if you are a secure tenant, or a Notice to Quit if you are a non secure tenant. This is the first step of the legal process to obtain possession of the dwelling. The Notice gives a period of at least 28 days for you to pay your debt in full or make arrangements to pay by instalments.
- If the debt continues to increase the matter will be referred to the County Court to seek a Possession Order on your home.
- At the Court Hearing the District Judge will normally grant a Postponed Possession Order, which means that you will be required to pay the rent as it falls due plus a fixed sum each week towards your arrears of rent. At the hearing we will also seek an order for costs, which can vary between £150 and £230. These costs will be added to your arrears of rent.
- If you do not keep to the terms ordered by the District Judge, the County Court will be made aware of your default and we will request the Court to issue a Possession Warrant, which the County Court Bailiff will serve and execute to take possession of your home.
- We do everything possible to prevent evictions but, as a last resort, we will evict tenants if they do not pay their rent. Over the last three years, we have repossessed on average five to eleven homes per year.
Please do not ignore the problem, we can try to help you resolve it.
