Rent arrears - local authorities, housing trusts and registered social landlords

District Judge Stephen Gold: If your landlord is a local authority or housing trust or a registered social landlord and it is concerned about rent arrears, it has to take certain steps before starting a court case against you because of the arrears - to follow a protocol.

The steps include trying to reach an agreement with you to pay an affordable sum towards the arrears and assisting you with a housing benefit claim. If you keep to an agreement to pay current rent and a reasonable sum towards arrears, the landlord should agree to postpone taking you to court.

If you reach an agreement like that but after the case had been started and keep to it then the landlord should postpone the court case. Failure by the landlord to take these steps could - if the failure has been unreasonable - lead the judge to dismiss the case or adjourn it.

Should the case go ahead, in deciding whether you are likely to pay up in future and what sort of order to make, the judge may well take into account what your response had been towards the landlord's attempts at reaching an agreement and what you have paid off the arrears while you were waiting to come to court.