Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

overpayments and suspensions were problematic .
A key aspect of HA/LA relationships in this respect
involved case-data information exchange . Where it
had been developed, electronic data transfer had
been found to produce very substantial efficiencies
from an association perspective .
Case study HAs had engaged in cultural change at
a symbolic and organisational level, most of which
now had centralised rent arrears management
services and a stronger managerial ethos .
Recruitment of “credit control professionals” from
outside the housing field was seen by some as an
important aspect of this . HAs had also sought to
develop a cultural change amongst their tenants so
that they would become active in the management
of their rent accounts .
Tenancy sustainability was the primary concern of
all case study HAs, which had introduced a series of
interventions including the increasing use of faceto-face
contact though home visits, for example, as
well as the use of other media, such as texting . This
was also combined in some HAs with personnel to
assist tenants in maximising their potential income
through benefits advice . Backing up this finding,
case file review evidence relating to recent eviction
cases (see Annex 1) indicated that housing officers
had typically contacted the tenant five times about
their arrears before serving an NSP and that an
average of eight further contacts had been made
post-NSP (and before actual repossession) .
As regards use of the courts, the case study
evidence compounded the findings of the national
survey in demonstrating that the PAP had
significantly altered practices and was a factor (if
not a significant one) in the development of more
managerial approaches in the case studies . HAs had
generally become more assiduous in documenting
their interventions with tenants . It was, however,
unclear among most of the studies whether they had
increased or decreased in their use of the courts .
District Judges were generally said to be tenantfriendly,
although their heterogeneous approaches
were also remarked upon .
HA use of Ground 8 was said to be generally
as a last resort, but different HAs had different
approaches to its use . It was also notable that all
HAs using Ground 8 said that their rent arrears
management would not be substantially affected
by any withdrawal of this power . The case file
analysis (Annex 1) confirmed that the factors most
commonly associated with use of Ground 8 were
tenant unresponsiveness to landlord attempts
to negotiate repayment terms, and property
abandonment . However, it was less clear from this
Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 9