Rent arrears cleared after death of tenant’s son
CHAC Case study
Gerry’s story
Gerry had been living as a secure tenant of a three-bedroom property with his adult son and baby grandson but, when his son died and his grandson left to live elsewhere, he was faced with having to pay bedroom tax in addition to existing rent arrears.
Gerry’s rent arrears totalled £700. Universal Credit (UC) paid Gerry’s housing costs and sent a monthly rent arrears payment of £24 direct to Canterbury City Council. The introduction of a bedroom tax for two spare rooms left Gerry unable to pay his rent shortfall let alone pay anything off his rent arrears.
How CHAC helped
We went with Gerry to Canterbury Jobcentre to correct the housing costs in his UC claim. This resulted in Gerry receiving an extra £17 of UC every month. We helped Gerry successfully apply for a weekly Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) of £25 to pay his bedroom tax for 13 weeks. This enabled Gerry to pay his rent in full plus £41 off his rent arrears every month.
We also helped Gerry apply to the Council’s Assisted Moves scheme to enable him to downsize from his threebedroom property to a more suitable one-bedroom flat. As this took more than 13 weeks, we helped Gerry successfully apply for another weekly DHP of £25 for a further 13 weeks to allow him time to move.
The outcome
Cooperation between Canterbury Housing Advice Centre and the Council’s Assisted Moves Scheme not only prevented Gerry from being evicted and becoming homeless, but also led to him being suitably rehoused.