Local Authority Housing Rent

ascuteasabutton

Just a quick background...my dad lives alone in a local authority housing scheme, he is 63 years old and his rent has been set at €27.70 for the current year which is fine he has no problem with that but he submitted this year in his rent form that he had been working 2 days a week from last July so as to keep everything above board so he has now been told it will have to be back dated to last July and he owes a further €350 odd.

As he is no longer working he has offered to pay an extra couple of Euro each week max of €5 as this is all he can afford and the girl I spoke to this morning said this is not good enough the minimum he will have to pay is €10 ,surely any kind of payment would be better than none! I might add he has never had rent arrears in 30 years of renting from the council!

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what I can do to sort it out, he suffers very bad from his nerves and is very worried about this so as I said to the girl I really need to get it sorted soon. I have already asked for somebody higher up to speak to but she said id have to put somethign in writing but as there is a backlog could take weeks to be seen.

Any comments etc would be appreciated.

snubbleste

Request a meeting in writing with whomever decides on rent arrears, and put your case.
Tbh an extra €10 a week for 35 weeks doesn't sound too bad for a pensioner, considering he worked to earn it.

ascuteasabutton

snubbleste wrote: »

Request a meeting in writing with whomever decides on rent arrears, and put your case.
Tbh an extra €10 a week for 35 weeks doesn't sound too bad for a pensioner, considering he worked to earn it.

I agree....an extra €10 a week is not a huge amount to somebody with regular income but he works 2 days a week some weeks and not other weeks his work is weather dependent and at his age he is not exactly a spring chicken and for medical reasons will probably not be able to carry on working much longer...he also pays €120 a month for medicine as he is not entitled to a medical card plus he also pays car loan etc. He is not looking to not pay it or to get anything handed to him it just seems the local authority don't want to meet people half way I think its a little bit unfair.

I think an offer of €5 a week is better than refusing to pay anything like some people do !

snubbleste

The housing authority are meeting half-way. Instead of demanding the €350 in one go, they're offering a tenner a week repayment.

ascuteasabutton

snubbleste wrote: »

The housing authority are meeting half-way. Instead of demanding the €350 in one go, they're offering a tenner a week repayment.

Yes I totally understand that but if the person does not have the capacity to pay then surely it would be better to agree on something that does suit both people! Putting it this way if he hadn't declared the two days then they would be none the wiser...its not like he stopped paying rent its a result of being honest which a lot of people are not doing these days!

Lugh Ildanach

He should consider getting a sympathetic councillor on board, especially with elections coming up.

He shouldn't be expected to pay excessive arrears. If they dig their heels in, and if he is on a social welfare payment, then he could apply to his local community welfare officer for an exceptional needs payment to pay the backlog.

Balagan

If they want €10 per week but have also said he can appeal that amount in writing but that there will be a backlong etc., then his best option is to commence repaying the €10 per week and to outline in a letter all that you have said re his other payments and how it would put presssure on him to continue that level of repayment. The Council is much more likely to look favourably on someone who is cooperating. It is not a huge amount but the Council's are cracking down, especially as there are so many people on the waiting lists for Local Authority houses.

ascuteasabutton

Thanks for all the replies guys , I have sent the letter and proposed what I see as a manageable repayment plan in place and fingers crossed they will accept it!

I don't really want to go down the route of getting politicians involved or anything like that coz my dad is extremely private and would prefer to get it sorted with the least amount of fuss.....if he wasn't so stubborn he would just take the money from me :rolleyes:

I appreciate all the comments and will let people know the outcome.:)

danois

Tell your dad not to panic just continue to pay his rent and whatever he can extra on top of it. they will not evict him because of it and if thats all he can pay they just have to accept it. As long as he pays them every week they will be ok with it.

intbn

any news on this ascuteasabutton? not being nosy, just there may be other people in a similiar situation who could do with knowing where they stand;)