Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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The diversity of factors taken into consideration by district judges in deciding possession cases led Hunter et al to conclude that: “[…] it is likely that even the introduction of some form of structured discretion which states that certain factors must be taken into account, eg level of arrears, personal circumstances of tenant, the impact on the landlord, will still lead to different outcomes for similar cases .” 86 The application of judicial discretion is also particularly relevant when considering the use, or not, of mandatory grounds . Cowan et al note that, although court cultures may exist (and shape the actions of applicants), individual judges within 86 Hunter, C . et al (2005), op cit . 36 the same court can be seen to display differing approaches, thus affecting how both claimant and defendant experience the courtroom as well as influencing outcomes . 87 On the other hand, busy judges dealing with (for them) mundane cases have been found to construct rules and principles around the trust and worthiness of applicants and defendants, which permeate their decisionmaking . 88 A further research question, therefore, is whether associations have a sense of how their district judges “operate” and whether they have developed a particular strategic response to those perceptions . 87 Cowan, D . et al (2006), ‘District judges and possession proceedings’, 33(4), Journal of Law and Society: 547-72 . 88 Cowan, D . and Hitchings, E . (2007), ‘”Pretty boring stuff”: District judges and housing possession proceedings’, 16(3), Social and Legal Studies: 363-82 .
2.5 The use of Ground 8 Although there is evidence in the literature on the use of discretionary grounds for possession and on district judges’ use of discretion in those cases, much less is known about the use of mandatory Ground 8 . This section summarises existing relevant material, before highlighting what, in the context of the discussion so far, is worth further investigation . Official data sources are silent on the use of specific grounds in England, but there are some figures available for Wales . For HAs, in 2006-2007: • A total of 1,029 suspended and postponed possession orders were made, of which 12 used mandatory grounds 89 • A total of 346 outright possession orders were made, of which 91 used mandatory grounds 90 In total, therefore, orders on mandatory grounds accounted for some seven per cent of all orders made . The Citizens Advice Bureau reported an increase in recent years in the number of HAs using Ground 8 . Twenty of 26 associations participating in a recent study said they made some use of this power, although in most cases on an exceptional rather than routine basis . Two associations did, however, use Ground 8 routinely . 91 Reasons given for using the ground included: • where the association believed non payment to be intentional or through omission, including where HB claims had not been submitted • repeated or long term arrears • where contact had not been made with the tenant, or arrears not discussed • when the tenancy was considered beyond salvage • where tenants had a long history of failed arrangements or refused to make an arrangement • where arrears were coupled with nuisance issues • where all other means had been exhausted 89 When the HA proceeded solely on a mandatory ground for possession an SPO or PPO should not be a possible outcome and, thus, we assume that in those 12 claims the HA also proceeded on the discretionary Grounds . 90 Welsh Assembly Government (2007) Social Landlords Possessions and Evictions in Wales, 2006-07, Statistical Release SDR 161/2007, http://wales .gov .uk/docrepos/40382/40382313/statistics/housing/housing-2007/sdr161-2007?lang=en 91 Phelps, L . (2008), op cit . Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 37
Page 1 and 2: Rent arrears management practices i
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive summary . . . .
Page 5 and 6: Executive summary Introduction This
Page 7 and 8: Key underlying factors were said to
Page 9 and 10: could, in part, reflect the growing
Page 11 and 12: overpayments and suspensions were p
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Backgrou
Page 15 and 16: arrears management and related aspe
Page 17 and 18: “… there may occasionally be ci
Page 19 and 20: under Article 8 of the Convention,
Page 21 and 22: y HAs . 37 The Circular informed as
Page 23 and 24: Pre-action protocol for possession
Page 25 and 26: The purpose of these interviews was
Page 27 and 28: Table 1.1 - Case Study HAs Organisa
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 2 Rent arrears management p
Page 31 and 32: Pawson et al’s study found that 9
Page 33 and 34: 2.3 Rent arrears management practic
Page 35 and 36: this with any certainty . 69 Howeve
Page 37: authority can also lead to a lack o
Page 41 and 42: In the Hunter et al study, 97 which
Page 43 and 44: some comment on the effect of the P
Page 45 and 46: • Ground 8 provided certainty to
Page 47 and 48: There was a difference of opinion a
Page 49 and 50: 3.3 The use of Ground 8 Whereas ans
Page 51 and 52: do so early enough, or at all . Cla
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 4 Rent collection and arrea
Page 55 and 56: 4.3 Housing Benefit service perform
Page 57 and 58: Table 4.3 - Housing association evi
Page 59 and 60: As shown in Figure 4 .1, CORE data
Page 61 and 62: were collected for landlords with l
Page 63 and 64: Most associations report initiating
Page 65 and 66: 5.2 Organisation of rent arrears ma
Page 67 and 68: Table 5.2 - Primary structure of ar
Page 69 and 70: Table 5.3 - Recent changes in organ
Page 71 and 72: 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
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Chapter 6 Case study evidence Chapt
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Annex 2 outlines our method, includ
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a couple of weeks to three months)
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to officers and policies . Officers
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RM put it, “caused uproar from te
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preferred form of the organisation
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tenant contacts are now recorded on
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as a result, would make an order un
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use - in these cases, it is viewed
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g) The tenant perspective In each c
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Ground 8 was generally to scrutinis
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Ground 8 was said to be used as a
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The key stakeholders regarded the P
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ule it would not be used where HB w
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Table A1.1 - Evicted households by
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uncontactable as a result) . Where
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Just under half of all cases in the
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Annex 2 Case study HA selection Our
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Annex 3 Profile of case study housi
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However, after a review across its
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as developing joint working with th
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Annex 4 Case study topic guides HA
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19. What has been your recent exper
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12. How are your tenants helped wit
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9. If RSLs rely on Ground 8, what i
Page 139 and 140:
4 Tenant employment circumstances (
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10 Value (£) of arrears at defined
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Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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