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No assets at all apart from what he owns in his new rented flat and that is mostly old, dated stuff. He doesn't have any property, car anything like that
Right, so there's little scope for them to enforce any judgment they may gain. Whilst i do think that they're somewhat reasonable waiting 6 years to clear the debt, the reality is that the amounts are simply not sustainable - there's just no money there.
Effectively it's a negotiation as even if they went to court, and won, there's just not enough there. That's before we consider the lack of capacity.
Thank you. A judgment has been made in court awarding these arrears. When you mention enforcement, if I proposed a repayment plan under what they're requesting what could they do to "make" me pay above what I propose?
Make you pay, nothing. Make your dad pay, well generally that would be things such as charges on properties, seizing assets, attachment to earning orders etc.
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From a legal standpoint, understanding that a judgement has been made on these arrears in favour of the housing company, should his "lack of capacity" feature in terms of my negotiation with the housing company?
Shelter and Citizens Advice are usually good options.
Does his food, bus fares, replacing worn out shoes and other basic living expenses have to come from the £400 or is that already accounted for?
Shelter has some introductory advice for rent arrears, including working out a repayment plan
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/how_to_deal_with_rent_arrears
The breathing space schemes are also relevant, and one involves working with a debt charity such as StepChange, which would be a very good idea for you
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/breathing_space_help_with_rent_or_mortgage_arrears
A discretionary housing payment may be relevant
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments
I'd suggest cross posting to /r/dwphelp as they may have some bright ideas too
Living expenses such as food and day to day living costs have to come out of the £400 so any repayment feels like it will be small
Thank you I'll check those out
In that case I think you need to sit down and do a realistic budget, factoring in everything from loo roll to bus fares to milk.
I'd stop saying he has £400 of "disposable" income; it's only disposable if he's not eating.
It was a complete dereliction of duty for the housing company to allow him to get this far into arrears tbh.
--- ###Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK --- **To Posters (it is important you read this section)** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different* * If you need legal help, you should [always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/how_to_find_a_solicitor) * We also encourage you to speak to [**Citizens Advice**](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/), [**Shelter**](https://www.shelter.org.uk/), [**Acas**](https://www.acas.org.uk/), and [**other useful organisations**](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/common_legal_resources) * Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk * If you receive any private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLegalAdviceUK&subject=I received a PM) **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/), you may be perma-banned without any further warning * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Lets be somewhat pragmatic here, does your father's estate have any assets? 400 a month on 30k would take 6+ years to pay off.
No assets at all apart from what he owns in his new rented flat and that is mostly old, dated stuff. He doesn't have any property, car anything like that
Right, so there's little scope for them to enforce any judgment they may gain. Whilst i do think that they're somewhat reasonable waiting 6 years to clear the debt, the reality is that the amounts are simply not sustainable - there's just no money there. Effectively it's a negotiation as even if they went to court, and won, there's just not enough there. That's before we consider the lack of capacity.
Thank you. A judgment has been made in court awarding these arrears. When you mention enforcement, if I proposed a repayment plan under what they're requesting what could they do to "make" me pay above what I propose?
Make you pay, nothing. Make your dad pay, well generally that would be things such as charges on properties, seizing assets, attachment to earning orders etc.
And in the absence of any of those things? For example, can they claim part of his pension / benefits to service the arrears?
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From a legal standpoint, understanding that a judgement has been made on these arrears in favour of the housing company, should his "lack of capacity" feature in terms of my negotiation with the housing company?
Shelter and Citizens Advice are usually good options. Does his food, bus fares, replacing worn out shoes and other basic living expenses have to come from the £400 or is that already accounted for? Shelter has some introductory advice for rent arrears, including working out a repayment plan https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/how_to_deal_with_rent_arrears The breathing space schemes are also relevant, and one involves working with a debt charity such as StepChange, which would be a very good idea for you https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/breathing_space_help_with_rent_or_mortgage_arrears A discretionary housing payment may be relevant https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments I'd suggest cross posting to /r/dwphelp as they may have some bright ideas too
Living expenses such as food and day to day living costs have to come out of the £400 so any repayment feels like it will be small Thank you I'll check those out
In that case I think you need to sit down and do a realistic budget, factoring in everything from loo roll to bus fares to milk. I'd stop saying he has £400 of "disposable" income; it's only disposable if he's not eating. It was a complete dereliction of duty for the housing company to allow him to get this far into arrears tbh.
100% this, food and transport costs shouldn't come from a "disposable income"
Yes that's fair, thank you
That's a thread I'm wanting to pull on but I don't know how far I can take that I'll do a proper budget with him thanks that will help
Also /r/ukpersonalfinance