Paying in advance

It’s a requirement of your tenancy that you pay in advance. This means your account is always ready for us to take payment and you won’t fall behind.

How to pay in advance

If your rent is charged weekly, but you can choose to pay it to us weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly depending on what works best for you and your circumstances.

When you pay your rent, you must pay for the week or month to come, not the week or month that has just been. For example, if you choose to pay us monthly, your payment is for the month ahead (so the payment you make in January will be for February’s rent). The same applies if you pay us weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly. You must always be paying for the weeks to come, not that have been. Paying in advance means your account doesn’t fall into arrears in between your payments.

Paying in advance also applies if you claim benefits such as Housing Benefit or Universal Credit to help with your rent. If you receive benefits to help with your rent and can’t afford to pay a month in advance at sign up, please contact your Income Officer and agree an arrangement to build your advance as soon as possible.

If you’re struggling to clear your arrears or put your account fully in advance, we’re happy to agree an affordable repayment plan with you. We understand everyone’s circumstances are different and affordability varies from person to person, so please contact your Income Officer who will work with you to create a realistic payment plan.

As shown below, this rent account is charging rent weekly and the rent is paid monthly in advance, meaning the account does not fall into an arrears at any point.

The money in your rent account will go down between payments but it will go up again when you make your next payment, so your account is always in credit. Your account will either show £0.00 or an amount in credit. If there is a minus (-) next to the figure in your rent account, you have fallen into arrears. If this happens, please contact the Income team to discuss this. You may receive contact from your Income Officer if you don’t get in touch.

As you can see from the below statement, this account is charging rent weekly and the customer is paying monthly. However, this customer is not paying enough each month consistently to make sure they are covering the full monthly rent of £1201.72, plus funds towards their rent arrears. This causes the rent account to stay in a continuous arrears balance with increasing arrears.

Benefits of paying in advance

• Credit on your account can help with the transition to Universal Credit, when waiting 5 weeks for your first payment.
• Credit on your account can also cover you for your end of tenancy period (4 weeks’ notice) if you decide to end your tenancy.
• Credit can be used as a buffer in an emergency if you’re experiencing financial difficulties or have a delay in a benefit payment, meaning you won’t fall into arrears immediately.

Disadvantages of paying in arrears

• Not paying in advance means if something goes wrong, your account will fall into arrears straight away.
• You may continue to receive arrears correspondence unless you’ve agreed to a suitable payment plan.
• Arrears can prevent you from being able to move, being eligible for a mutual exchange or being able to carry out tenancy changes.

We understand that being ahead in credit can be difficult, especially with the current climate of cost of living. Therefore, we encourage you to speak with your Income Officer to agree to a suitable payment plan to reduce any arrears on your rent account.