Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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one HA was a high user (HA D); one issued a large number of claims on the basis of Ground 8, but made few actual evictions on this Ground (HA E); and one was a non-user of Ground 8 but had indicated in the questionnaire return that it was considering its introduction into their policy (HA F) . Diversity of HA The criteria discussed above have foreshadowed this point to an extent . The transfer/non-transfer criterion mentioned above was reflected to some extent by the inclusion of HA D, although this was an unusual form of transfer landlord . Other case study HAs had taken over stock formerly managed by local authorities, although not a stock transfer landlord per se (eg HA E) . 122 Organisational factors These factors were related to two elements – audited performance of RSLs (ie a mix of high/ low performers and improvers) because this could be beneficial in that our work could build on an existing body of well-evidenced research findings; as well as the organisation of rent arrears management .
Annex 3 Profile of case study housing associations HA A HA A is an area office of a nationally operating HA that owns or manages more than 60,000 properties . Increasingly, company wide procedures are being introduced for housing management activities, including a structure for rent arrears management . The motivation for this change in rent arrears management was to develop more consistent, more professionalised practice across the organisation in an attempt to manage down both arrears and evictions . At the same time, it was believed that, in developing an effective Former Tenant Arrears collection system, the service could be marketed to other HAs . Local Account Managers (“LAMs”) are based in area offices, responsible for individual patches of the territory administered by the area office . LAMs are wholly responsible for monitoring rent accounts and managing arrears from the point of commencement of tenancy . This company-wide policy was a shift from the previous discretion accorded to area offices as to organisation . LAMs are co-located with housing management staff in Area Offices and find this beneficial in sharing information with colleagues responsible for response repairs and estate management . LAMs are line managed by account managers who work from two central offices . LAMs work closely with Centre-based staff, with LAMs’ primary role being to make home visits to tenants in arrears – especially those who Centre-based staff find to be un-contactable by phone . LAMs also liaise with local HB staff and present cases in court . They work “non-standard” hours – including evenings and Saturday mornings – in a bid to improve their “strike rate” in making direct contact with tenants in arrears . This out of hours working is compensated by flexible working rather than higher pay . HA B HA B is a sub-regional HA operating across 14 local authority areas . HA B operated from three area offices until 2008, when two area offices were closed down as part of a restructuring of the organisation . There is now one central directorate and two rent collection teams . The management of rent arrears gradually switched from generic to specialist in 2006 as different area offices changed their practice . As part of the restructuring, rent arrears management became a specialist role held by Income Officers (“IOs”) . They only become involved with tenants when rent arrears arise . The Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 123
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Rent arrears management practices i
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Contents Executive summary . . . .
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Executive summary Introduction This
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Key underlying factors were said to
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could, in part, reflect the growing
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overpayments and suspensions were p
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Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Backgrou
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arrears management and related aspe
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“… there may occasionally be ci
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under Article 8 of the Convention,
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y HAs . 37 The Circular informed as
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Pre-action protocol for possession
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The purpose of these interviews was
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Table 1.1 - Case Study HAs Organisa
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Chapter 2 Rent arrears management p
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Pawson et al’s study found that 9
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2.3 Rent arrears management practic
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this with any certainty . 69 Howeve
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authority can also lead to a lack o
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2.5 The use of Ground 8 Although th
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In the Hunter et al study, 97 which
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some comment on the effect of the P
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• Ground 8 provided certainty to
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There was a difference of opinion a
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3.3 The use of Ground 8 Whereas ans
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do so early enough, or at all . Cla
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Chapter 4 Rent collection and arrea
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4.3 Housing Benefit service perform
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Table 4.3 - Housing association evi
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As shown in Figure 4 .1, CORE data
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were collected for landlords with l
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Most associations report initiating
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5.2 Organisation of rent arrears ma
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Table 5.2 - Primary structure of ar
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Table 5.3 - Recent changes in organ
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Table 5.6 - Staff training provisio
Page 73 and 74: Within the transfer landlord cohort
Page 75 and 76: • Where arrears were accrued befo
Page 77 and 78: Table 5.9 - Estimated percentage of
Page 79 and 80: elatively high response rate achiev
Page 81 and 82: The survey sought to collect statis
Page 83 and 84: Ground 8 actions typically accounte
Page 85 and 86: How is the scale of Ground 8 use ch
Page 87 and 88: already routinely exercising the ac
Page 89 and 90: Chapter 6 Case study evidence Chapt
Page 91 and 92: Annex 2 outlines our method, includ
Page 93 and 94: a couple of weeks to three months)
Page 95 and 96: to officers and policies . Officers
Page 97 and 98: RM put it, “caused uproar from te
Page 99 and 100: preferred form of the organisation
Page 101 and 102: tenant contacts are now recorded on
Page 103 and 104: as a result, would make an order un
Page 105 and 106: use - in these cases, it is viewed
Page 107 and 108: g) The tenant perspective In each c
Page 109 and 110: Ground 8 was generally to scrutinis
Page 111 and 112: Ground 8 was said to be used as a
Page 113 and 114: The key stakeholders regarded the P
Page 115 and 116: ule it would not be used where HB w
Page 117 and 118: Table A1.1 - Evicted households by
Page 119 and 120: uncontactable as a result) . Where
Page 121 and 122: Just under half of all cases in the
Page 123: Annex 2 Case study HA selection Our
Page 127 and 128: However, after a review across its
Page 129 and 130: as developing joint working with th
Page 131 and 132: Annex 4 Case study topic guides HA
Page 133 and 134: 19. What has been your recent exper
Page 135 and 136: 12. How are your tenants helped wit
Page 137 and 138: 9. If RSLs rely on Ground 8, what i
Page 139 and 140: 4 Tenant employment circumstances (
Page 141 and 142: 10 Value (£) of arrears at defined
Page 143 and 144: Our offices Maple House 149 Tottenh
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Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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