Our Rent Payment Officers recently helped a tenant who was worried she would be left without a home after a relationship breakdown.
Rent Payment Officers are here to help you manage your rent and pay any arrears. Recently two of our Rent Payment Officers, Sunil and Saeeda, went above and beyond to help one of our tenant.
*Tenants names have been changed for anonymity
A bit of background
Our tenant, Khadijah*, had recently experienced a relationship breakdown which resulted in her husband handing in his notice for the tenancy. The tenancy was due to come to an end on Christmas Eve, leaving Khadijah and her children in the property with no tenancy and at risk of being left without a home.
Khadijah was anxious about where to go and what to do because her ex-husband had always been the person who managed the finances due to her language barrier.
How the Rent Payment Team helped
Sunil, one of our Rent Payment Officers, visited Khadijah’s home before Christmas with another RPO, Saeeda, to see how they could help. Saeeda is fluent in Urdu which helped to build a good relationship with Khadijah and made her feel more comfortable.
Sunil and Saeeda spoke with Khadijah and found that she needed helped with her Universal Credit claim. They organised for this to be paid directly to us, so that she didn’t fall into arrears. They also helped her to organise her Council Tax, utility bills and to claim Child Benefits.
To try and help Khadijah to stay in her property, our RPOs also took down the information of who was now living in the property so that they could talk to our Lettings team to see if she could be offered a new tenancy on her home.
After Christmas, Khadijah was offered to take over the tenancy on her home. Khadijah was really pleased and particularly thanked Sunil and Saeeda for their support.
Khadijah’s reaction
This has been such a positive result for Khadijah and she was so pleased to be able to stay in her home with her children. She said, “you have made me feel at ease by coming to my house and sorting out my Universal Credit claim. I really appreciate having your direct number to call you and speak to you freely, it has helped my confidence in speaking to Midland Heart.”
If you need help paying your rent or are worried about getting into arrears, please give us a call on 0345 60 20 540 or get in touch with your Rent Payment Officer and we’ll be happy to help.
