What Is Harassment?

[nene avenger]

I am a housing association tenant. They adopted a zero tolerance policy some months ago.

I pay by bank transfer during the first week of every month, the problem is that as they give 2 "free weeks" a year the rent calculation is weekly rent times 50m divide by 12, which is what I pay and how they calculate their Direct debit payments.

 

The problem is that at certain times of the year I am in arrears on the 1st of the month by a few pounds, this month it was £16. this will disapear in December when we get a "free" week

 

The arrears trigger a threatening letter which I view as harassment as invariably they have had the payment by the time I get it.

During discussions with them they admitted that the same situation arises with tenants who pay by DD but they do not get the letters, Is this discrimination??

 

The arrears quoted at the end of October amounted too £16 - this is the equivalent of the rent for 8 hours and 16 minutes. there must be some guidelines somewhere concerning this. Can any one help please

[Aequitas]

What you describe does not amount to harassment or discrimination.

[NewSAHD]

What you describe does not amount to harassment or discrimination.

 

Agreed.

 

This is clearly frustrating for you, but I read somewhere of the arrears problem faced by social landlords - and the figures were staggering

 

Have a friendly chat with them, instead, and see if there is any way they can mark your records to stop the reminders being sent.

 

Most systems will allow this, although the landlords own procedures may not allow staff to do so. If that's the case, you are stuck.

 

If they can mark your records, but procedures don't initially allow, suggest that you'll email/call each month if there's going to be the slightest delay, just to offer them some reassurance.

 

Otherwise, accept that it's (nearly) a case of "computer says no".

 

PS. All junk post/unwanted letters here gets recycled, in that they get passed to the kids to cut up / paste / draw on the back of... have even been given boxes of (unwanted) office stationary in recent years, which kept the kids amused for ages

[nene avenger]

Thanks for that. Yes it is very frustrating, as with so many things these days your past record counts for nothing. An interesting thing is that the staff are in the front line of many tenants complaints and are encouraging me, and others I believe to complain to their head office.

However I do console myself with the thought that it must be a very expensive exercise for them which will in many cases produce litle in the way of results but will surely damage their reputation which they have worked hard to build up

 

J