Pay your rent

Rent and other changes must be paid in advance based on your payment frequency even if you receive benefits which are paid in arrears. It’s important you pay on time.

How can I pay?

You can pay your rent, service charges, or arrears in several easy ways. Choose the method that works best for you:

• Direct Debit: The simplest way to pay automatically and choose when the money comes out of your account. Call us so we can help you set up your Direct Debit.
• Pay online: Register or log in to MyJRHT to check your rent or charges account and make payment.
• By phone: Call us on 0800 5870211 and one of our team can take a payment via debit or credit card.
• In person: Pay by cash or card at any Post Office or where you see the PayPoint sign. You’ll need an Allpay card from us to show the cashier.

If you’re concerned about your finances or struggling to pay your rent, we provide a free and confidential Money and Benefits Advice service for all our residents. Please get in touch as soon as possible for support.

Our Money and Benefits Advice service can assist you with:

• checking and applying for benefits you may be entitled to
• updating benefit claims if your circumstances change
• advice and support if you have rent or council tax arrears, or are struggling to pay other bills
• help with budgeting and managing your debts
• identifying other forms of support, such as government grants or the NHS Low Income Scheme.

To speak to an adviser or book an appointment, contact the Money and Benefits Advice service on 0800 5870211 or email mba@jrht.org.uk.

What if I’m in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit?

If you are unsure what you are entitled to then contact us. We can check if you are eligible, help you make a claim and process it quickly. It’s up to you to make sure that your claim is accurate, with all the relevant documents and you are responsible for any debt that builds up in the meantime.

If you receive Housing Benefit, then you can ask your local authority to pay us directly which may cover all or part of your rent.

If you’ve moved over to Universal Credit, you will now get a monthly payment direct to you. It will include any help you get towards your housing costs.

Whether Universal Credit covers all or part of your charges, you must pay your full charge to us and you need to arrange payments to us directly. We suggest setting up a Direct Debit payment to us for the day your Universal Credit payment arrives in your account. That way you don’t need to remember to pay or worry about how much you have left for other things.

If you have any changes in circumstances or your rent increases, it’s important that you only report changes when they happen and not in advance. If you need help to report changes you can contact us by emailing information@jrht.org.uk or calling us on 0800 5870211.

What happens if I do not pay my rent?

If you don’t pay your rent, we’ll contact you to talk about the issue and try to agree a solution with you.

Following this, there are several available options, including initiating proceedings to enforce payment or terminating the tenancy through eviction.

We need to go to court for you to be evicted. If this happens and you then make an agreement to clear your rent arrears, you will need to pay court charges of at least £325 on top of your arrears.

To avoid this, it’s a good idea to speak to us as soon as possible so we can help with your issues.