Having a rough run
Sue presented to our service with various different problems. She had a medical issue which was causing her to be in financial distress. Her car had recently been stolen and burnt and was also fighting with her insurance company to pay her out the cost of her car. She was also behind on her rental payments as she had to rent various bits of equipment such as medical devices and scooters to get around. There were three issues she needed our support in, she wanted us to assist with getting the drainage issue resolved as this was impeding her scooter mobility/ causing tiles to be wet, the hedge be removed as it was derelict and messy, and she needed more time to pay her rent.
An Advocate from HAAG got involved and looked at the contract. In the contract terms it was clear that the resident would need to pay to have these issues resolved as the issues were on her property and not common areas. There were also no provisions that necessitated that the housing provider should be lenient with accepting rent payments. From a negotiation standpoint, HAAG was at a disadvantage as there was no reason for the housing provider to be generous. The advocate petitioned the housing provider to do better in our client’s current situation, we highlighted the safety concerns and reminded the housing provider of their core values.
This led to the housing provider committing to repairing the front yard and the drainage issue. The housing provider eventually came back to us and agreed to provide the
resident with a payment arrangement whereby the resident was to pay their rent in two instalments monthly.
Our client is very happy with the support we have been able to provide and this is the best outcome we could have hoped to achieve.
*Image is not Sue's Car