Paying your Rent

In accordance with your Tenancy Agreement you must ensure that your rent account is 4 weeks in advance.  You can choose to pay your rent weekly, fortnightly, monthly or 4 weekly however, payments must be made on time.  Your payments can be made by several methods:

• Direct Debit

• Standing  Order

• Allpay Payment Card

• In cash or by debit card at the Ardrossan or Kilmarnock Office

Please note that you should not send cash through the post. A statement of your rent account will be sent to your home on a quarterly basis as follows:

Quarter 1:    April

Quarter 2:    July

Quarter 3:    October

Quarter 4:    January

Housing Benefit Information and Advice

What is Housing Benefit?

Housing Benefit is a National Scheme that helps people on limited income to pay their rent. The scheme is run locally by both North and East Ayrshire Council. Anyone who pays rent can apply. If you are receiving benefits such as Income Support, State Retirement Pension or Incapacity Benefit, it is particularly worthwhile making a claim for Housing Benefit.

How Do I Make a Claim?

Claim forms are available from Cunninghame Housing Association’s offices. It is worthwhile making an application even if you are working, or if you think you might not qualify. The Association are taking part in an initiative with North Ayrshire Council known as the Verification Framework. This means that we can accept new claims and changes in circumstances and verify evidence supporting these claims. This means that claims can be processed more quickly.

Download the Housing Benefit Verfication Leaflet (pdf 57Kb)

How Much Benefit Will I Get?

The amount of Housing Benefit you get depends on the amount of money coming into your house, plus any savings you have. The number and ages of the people living in your house is also taken into consideration.

What if My Circumstances Change?

If the information you have given on your Application Form changes, you must tell your local Council Office immediately and you should also let us know.  Changes such as a rise in your wages, or someone moving out of or into the house, may affect the amount of Benefit you get. Review forms are sent out from time to time, and you must make sure you complete and return these or your Housing Benefit may be cancelled.

Overpayment of Housing Benefit

You should also bear in mind that failure to tell the local authority of a change in circumstances, can result in overpaid housing benefit being claimed back by the Council.

If your benefit was paid directly to us, and the Council has claimed it back, we will treat this as an arrear and pursue recovery of this money.

Rent Arrears

Non-payment of rent is a serious matter and could lead to you losing your home. We place great emphasis on early contact in rent arrears cases. This helps tenants and the Association to sort out problems quickly before arrears levels get too high. If you have difficulty in paying your rent you should contact your Housing Officer immediately to formalise a repayment agreement. 

If you fail to strictly adhere to the repayment agreement or fully co-operate with the Association an instruction will be made to the Associations solicitor to proceed with court action. 

If this happens you should seek independent legal advice and there are a number of agencies operating locally. 

We will not take legal action if you make and keep to an arrangement for paying what you owe us.

We have an obligation to inform certain other members of your household if we intend taking legal action against you. This is to allow their circumstances to be considered by the Court. This means that anyone who you have taken in as a lodger or sub-let your house to is entitled to know about such action. The same applies to members of your family over the age of 16 who live with you. It is important therefore that we know who lives in your home and if we ask you to provide this information you should make every effort to do so.

Download the Independent Advice Leaflet (pdf 155.6kb)

Service Charges

In areas containing common features such as landscaping or paving, stairs and closes to flats, TV aerials and door entry systems we arrange for the maintenance of these facilities. To pay for this, we set service charges every year. These are payable with your rent, and provide us with the money required for these services. You are charged only for the cost of providing these services and these are reviewed on an annual basis.