Help with rent arrears
Lower income families as well as tenants on benefits can receive help with paying their housing costs as well as rent arrears. There is support for tenants in the UK who are threatened with homelessness and for those who are struggling to pay their bills. Emergency rent assistance programmes in the UK provide tenants with cash aid, referrals, and other forms of support during periods of extreme financial hardship.
Not-for profits, charity organisations and a number of UK government agencies listed below may offer assistance in an emergency. The various schemes can provide qualified low income families or vulnerable households with benefit checks if you are found to be entitled to direct aid. This can give you the money you need to handle a short-term crisis.
The type of assistance from the programmes is wide ranging. Some organisations can provide grants and others can offer interest-free loans. Imagine being able to borrow the funds you need while not worrying about paying interest costs to borrow the money. Or advisers can referral people to free legal representation or other homeless prevention resources.
Each programme has specific eligibility criteria that must bet met in order to qualify for aid. As long as you earn below their threshold and meet other requirements, then you could receive emergency assistance for your rent and avoid the embarrassment of an eviction. For tenants on a low income, or in poverty that are renting social housing, they can get assistance as well. A number of schemes as well as programmes are aimed at them as well. Find information on social housing rental assistance programmes.
The UK Bill Help Clearinghouse provides reviews of the individual tenant financial aid programmes, including details about benefits, qualifications and estimates on the amount of aid someone can receive. There are countless housing services currently available, and as new services are added to the public mix, we shall include this information so that you have access to the resources you need to help you deal with financial problems.
The goal of each UK emergency rental assistance programme is to help you retain safe housing so that you do not become a burden on the government. It is cheaper to provide just a little bit of financial assistance during times of need than to bear the full cost of housing and feeding someone who is homeless.
You can review the various schemes that serve your community and figure out which ones can best help you. Do you need a temporary payment towards your rent? Would a free benefit check be all that you need? Would an interest-free loan allow you to catch up your housing costs and keep you from an eviction? Families do have different resources they can explore, and these emergency rent assistance programmes can deliver help in your time of need.
Look for a agency or government centre near you that you can visit in person. If you need a more permanent solution, then there may be other options that are more appropriate. Regardless of your needs, these programmes will be preferable to borrowing money for paying your rent.
Local rent or housing payment programmes
Many cities and counties have benefits available to help people pay the rent in order to make it through a short term hardship. If you are facing an eviction, find a listing of government and not-for profit programmes. These rent assistance resources are in addition to the national benefits indicated above.
When you owe rent arrears to your landlord or are facing homelessness, low income families and individuals need to explore their options. There are emergency funds or grants for paying past due rental expenses, including solutions such as the Discretionary Housing Payment. Other options include free legal aid, support from your local council, and free referrals from an adviser. Find more details below.
England
City of Liverpool
London
Tyne and Wear, including the city of Newcastle.
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Always seek help from a local organisation as soon as possible. While some centres do offer housing or payments for rent in an emergency, if may take time to review, approve, and process an application. Also, most agencies have very limited funding, so tenants may need to explore a number of different possible solutions.
Discussions
Hi, I am in Scotland, and have just been served an eviction notice. I am in over £4000 arrears. My eldest daughter moved out which meant I no longer was entitled to (almost) full rent, and had struggled a while to pay the top up.
I am on ESA (group support); PIP and have 2 daughters living at home (one of whom is getting various treatments for her health also). My depression, PTSD and anxiety are now through the roof. I have been in contact with a solicitor and the council about sorting out DHP etc, but I’m not sure how long this will take.
The court hearing is the 20th September. I have already been through this when my ex hadn’t been paying the rent. The last place also in my name and I stupidly believed my fiance was paying the rent, but he wasn’t and hiding the letters. I cant go through all the homeless fiasco again. I’d rather give my daughters to their dad and leave than put them through all of that again. Please help, urgent advise needed.
I got left with over £1400 of rent arrears after a bad domestic relationship. I have been struggling to pay off. I now live at my mums and sleep on her sofa due to it being over crowded, my 2 year old son also lives there with me. I am priority on the home choice bidding system but they won’t even offer me temporary accommodation due to the rent arrears. I’m currently on ESA due to very high anxiety and depression because I lost a little boy last year. I just don’t know what to do, I need to be housed soon because I don’t get on with my parents and they want me out. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do/ who would help?
So I’ve been hit with my re-Poseidon order of 28 days today and need some help with rent in an emergency. Being on benefits, single mum with 4 children and this benefit cap has completely messed me up. I actually don’t know what to do.
I have to raise £1,900 to pay my arrears and then pay 76.56 a week (more than my income support). I know many would say get a job, I was training to become a PT instructor but was kicked of the course due to breaking my arm and not being able to drive to collage every weekend. I have no one to ask for rent help. What/where can I do/go to get some help? Thanks.
Just like many others we are on benefits and it has not been enough. We are about to be served an eviction order and if we don’t get this paid and that happens our children will very possibly be taken away from us and we will left destroyed.
If there’s any help available for paying rent arrears in this emergency that anybody can suggest or offer. We need four hundred pounds to fix this by Monday. We would appreciate anything. Take care everyone and thank you for reading this message from me my fiancé and our two little boys.
Hello. I’m at my wits end I have been sent a letter from the local housing that they have applied for eviction at the Court for rent arrears of £2,700 which needs to be paid before eviction order.
I am on a very low income and have a 2 year old. Please help don’t know what to do.
I am on rent arrears at the moment and it’s quite high.
I have a small family and my husband was recently layed off work, so right now he had to claim JSA. But that money is not enough. Then, despite looking for work frequently, nothing has come up yet. My point is how comes this emergency help is not available in Camden borough for funding rental arrears. We have been served an eviction notice that is valid for a year, which ends in July 2017.
As its temp accommodation they can get rid of us anytime and we get no say in it.
All the rent arrears happened because of housing benefit overpayments in previous years. This is a nightmare.
I have 2 kids that have grown up in temporary accommodation all their life and has known not a real home. Eldest is 14 now. Please help us in this emergency. Don’t know what to do anymore!
Hello, I’m currently on rent arrears. I’m a single mum working full time but I have been signed off work for two weeks and possibly more. I have just paid some of my rent from the wages that I’ve just received and now I have less money to get by…please help!!