Rent and bills

  • You will be responsible for paying rent and utilities in the property.
  • If you are working, you will be required to make a contribution towards the cost of the rent.
  • If you are not working and are affected by the Benefit Cap, you will have to pay the shortfall between the rent and your capped benefit.  We will assist you with an application for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover this cost. You should also consider moving to private rented accommodation outside of Barnet, where your rent will be more affordable.
  • If you fall into arrears whilst in ETA, you will be placed into Band 4 of the Housing Allocations Scheme. This will reduce your priority for rehousing. You may also be evicted from the property and risk ending the assistance provided by Barnet Homes.
  • You must pay Council Tax and all other bills, including gas, electricity and water rates.  If you are being offered accommodation outside Barnet, you will need to register for Council Tax with the borough in which you are placed.You should also apply for Council Tax Benefit.

Leaving the property

  • It is extremely important that you tell us if you are away from your accommodation for 7 days or more. If you do not tell us, your accommodation may be cancelled and your belongings removed.
  • When you do leave your accommodation, you must return the keys directly to the letting agents before 12 noon and you must complete all the required paperwork.  If you do not do this, you will continue to be charged rent.

Your housing application

  • You must inform us of any change of circumstances relevant to your case (for example, if a member of your household stops living with you). You should also let us know if you start working, volunteering, or caring for anyone. Remember, if you make a positive community contribution by working, studying, or volunteering you may qualify for a ‘community contribution’ under the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme and be given greater priority for rehousing.
  • Please make sure we have your current telephone number and email address. It is essential that we are able to contact you promptly, or you may miss out on an offer of a property.

Anti-social behaviour

  • Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and is a breach of your license agreement. We may evict you from ETA if you behave inappropriately. Anti-social behaviour may also result in the closure of your homeless application, so no further assistance will be provided.

Our responsibilities

  • Our aim is to provide you with suitable accommodation that meets your assessed needs. We will do this until more settled accommodation is available for you or until we finish investigating your case.
  • Your agent or landlord will handle most queries you might have about your accommodation.  Please speak to them first before contacting Barnet Homes.
  • We routinely carry out occupancy checks to ensure that ETA is being used. If you are not there and have not told us, your accommodation can be cancelled at very short notice. We will not inform you of an occupancy check beforehand. If you are not at home we may access the accommodation without you there.
  • We also carry out quality check inspections to make sure your property is up to standard. We will make an appointment with you to do this type of visit.
  • We may sometimes need to transfer you to alternative accommodation at short notice. If this happens we will aim to minimise disruption for you as much as we can.

Your accommodation is expected to be of a decent standard and the landlord/agent will investigate any concerns you may have about the accommodation