Agenda item

S Mogan introduced the report to members and ran through its highlights.

Councillor Freedman thanked the officer for the report and suggested that the report should focus more on the known metrics such as how difficult is it to make contact once a tenant is identified as needing support and how much contact is required to get a response from them.

Councillor Adeleke was concerned that the system would not be able to recognise underlying issues. He referred to paragraph 3.11 and asked if there was a perception that tenants are scared to speak to rent officers. He also referred to the Universal Credit officer and noted the hard work this post had completed. He asked if there were plans to extend the contract beyond May 2021 as the current covid-19 situation is going to have a lasting impact.

S Mogan noted Councillor’s Adeleke’s concern about the system not recognising underlying issues. She explained that the system does not just look at rent arrears, it will look at payment patterns and if, for example, the tenant pays their rent on 25^th of each month, it won’t highlight this as a risk until the payment has been missed. It is an intelligent system but will take the point away about it potentially missing important information, especially those tenants who pay their rent on time. In relation to the fear of talking to rent officers, she said the team are working hard to change that perception that they are debt collectors. When the team manage to contact a tenant in serious arrears, it often comes as a relief to the tenant as we are able to offer support and help them pay their rent and apply for any benefits they may be entitled too. There is a huge benefit to tenants if they remain in contact with rent officers. The intention is to review and extend the contract of the Universal Credit Officer.

Councillor Mahmood said arrears had gone up 1.06% which totalled £400k. He asked if this was correct.

S Mogan said the percentage of the arrears is worked out as a percentage of the gross debit which equals approximately £54 million a year.

Councillor Mahmood referred to paragraph 3.8 and the automatic reminders that are issued. He asked about the wording in these as this could cause stress to tenants.

S Mogan said there are a variety of letters than get sent out and are based on stages of the rent arrears that appear on the Housing Management system. There has been a 60-70% reduction in letters sent in quarter 1 and 2 this year compared to last as the team are making more phone contact with tenants. If a tenant is not engaging with the team, as a very last resort we send them a support letter explaining what we can do to help them and this is to encourage them to contact the team.

Councillor Mahmood asked if the letters threaten to take legal action in them. He said it was important to get the rent income but need to balance this against our tenants’ wellbeing.

S Mogan said as the arrears increase, the message becomes more serious in the letters. We want them to understand how serious the situation is.

Councillor Mahmood referred to paragraph 3.22 and the five pending court cases and asked for some clarification.

S Mogan said the five cases are waiting to be looked at by the courts, they were shut at the start of the pandemic so there has been a delay. The courts will not look at any cases where a tenant is claiming universal credit or has rent deductions. The team was previously focussed on enforcement and are now moving into a support role to prevent tenants getting into high arrears. For example, one account had arrears of £5,500 and the tenant was due to be evicted but the team have worked with him over the last couple of months and they have just cleared the last outstanding arrears and court costs.

Councillor Pringle asked if there were lessons to be learnt in terms of future engagement to reduce arrears. It seems that once the enforcement option has been removed, the team become more successful in collecting the rent. She asked how the team would manage collecting rent if the economic situation becomes worse with further lockdowns and the end of the furlough scheme.

S Mogan said moving forward, the team will be focussed on supporting tenants and on early intervention. We will contact tenants as soon as they enter into arrears to find out what the issues are before it progresses and gets worse. Going forward, enforcement action will only be taken on those tenants who are not engaging when all methods of contact have been tried and often, a final court date prompts engagement and payment. At the start of the pandemic, the team started recording what tenants were financially impacted by covid-19 and a marker was placed on the system to alert officers. We know what tenants will be affected when the furlough scheme ends and those who could be a risk of redundancy. Some tenants who were furloughed and only receiving 80% of their wages were able to pay 80% of their rent and a repayment plan would be introduced when they are back to their full income. Building these relationships with tenants will be important moving forward.