Agenda item

That the Committee note the latest financial position for rent collections in 2022-23 as set out in the report.

The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) outlined the quarterly briefing report on Housing Rent.  He explained the difficulties experienced during the pandemic, the impacts of the Cost of Living crisis and Inflation.

Rent Arrears collection for 2022/2023 had been a cumulative rent arrears position of just over £2 million.  Rent Arrears at the end of the financial year was up by 124k.  The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) was pleased to report that the year-end outturn arrears figure for 2022/23 was lower than the figure set out in the previous report to scrutiny. It was important to note that.  20% of tenants had fallen into arrears, but most did remain up to date with payments.

He added that the number of evictions was significantly down with only 2 evictions taking place, and re-iterated that every possible form of engagement had been made to avoid evictions.  He also added that the Council always endeavour to maximise collections whilst remaining fair.

In relation to write offs, the Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) advised that they were lower than previous years and added that some were unavoidable if that person had passed away and for those who were subject to debt relief orders.

The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) also outlined the rent income pilot scheme currently being delivered which provided an alternative way of working in order to gain a closer working relationship with tenants.

Councillor David Evans said whilst the report showed what looked like a lower level of controlled rent arrears, he expressed his concerns with regards to the top end of arrears for those in the bracket of £2500 to £5000 which looked like it had increased.  He commented that once they cross an arrears threshold it just seemed to get worse.  He also asked what the Councils obligations were after a tenant was evicted, did the Council have a duty to home them, what was their level of debt and was there a breakdown available of the reasons for the eviction.  He also commented that the pilot scheme outlined in section 1.09 of the report sounded interesting and would like further information on the scheme.

The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) explained that the table of rent arrears was often difficult to explain as tenants quite often move in and out of the different categories, which made it harder to track and reiterated that the Council carried out early engagement.  He added that the Council did not track the movements of tenants following eviction but advised that those previous tenants were not currently re-housed with the Council.  He suggested that further information on the rent income pilot scheme be reported to the Committee in due course. 

The Chair referred to the number of tenants in rent arrears over £5,000 and asked how many of those tenants where subject to court orders and were paying a small amount of the arrears on top of their weekly rent.  She also asked if there was a trigger point when tenants were taken to court to re-coup the rent arrears.  The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) advised that those tenants had been to court and where on a payment plan to recover the debt.  He explained that there wasn’t an arbitrary figure for when tenants were taken to court with the Council focussing on getting engagement in place.  Tenants were taken to court when there was no engagement with the Council to reduce the debt.  

The Chair commented on the level of rent arrears and outlined the significant investment that could be made to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) if rent arrears was reduced.  She asked if a summary of those tenants in rent arrears over £5,000, outlining how many were subject to court orders and how many awaiting eviction etc. could be provide in future reports. 

Councillor Bernie Attridge commented on the number of tenants in rent arrears above £5,000 and said that whilst the Council was doing more to engage with tenants as soon as they went into arrears to stop the amount increasing, he felt that the number of tenants in high arrears was out of control.  He raised concern around the response provided to Councillor Evans that tenants who had been evicted were not tracked and felt that they should be in order to ensure the arrears were collected.  He agreed with the comments made by the Chair around the significant investment that could be made to the HRA and the financial assistance that could be provided to tenants who were struggling financially but continued to pay their rent on time week after week.  He felt that the Council should be taking tenants to court if they were not engaging and not paying their rent and commented on the safety net in place for those tenants who could not pay.  He asked if information on re-charges could be provided in future reports in order to outline how tenants who had made significant damages to their properties before moving were pursued to re-claim the costs to bring the property back into use. 

The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) disagreed with the comment that the rent arrears were out of control but said that there were many challenges for the reasons set out in the report.  He suggested that a separate report on re-charges be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee and explained that whilst re-charging sat within the HRA for accounting purposes, re-charges were dealt with through an invoicing system, and he provided an assurance that they were robustly pursued and in some cases this would be though a County Court action through a CCJ.  He clarified his response to Councillor Evans around tracking evicted tenants and explained that where possible outstanding debt was collected and that tracking arrangements were in place for those tenants.              

            Councillor Marion Bateman said that no tenant should be owing the Council £5,000 or more and asked at what stage to tenants start paying extra on top of their rent.  The Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) advised that the systems in place tracked tenants rent payment and flagged up when a tenants had missed a payment which enabled contact to be made with that tenants as soon as possible.  The Council did what it could to mitigate and stop rent arrear levels moving into the next band, but this was a challenge, especially for those tenants with one off benefits and universal credit, as outlined in the report.   

            In response to comments by Councillor Bateman around evictions, the Service Manager (Revenues and Procurement) said there was a balance for the Council between its responsibility as a social landlord and to not evict into homelessness.

The recommendations, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Geoff Collett and seconded by Councillor David Evans.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee note the latest financial position for rent collections in 2022-23 as set out in the report.