Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

There was a difference of opinion as to the impact
of such documents and more general concerns
about actual front-line practice . It was suggested,
for example, that implementation was not always
perfect with insufficient attention given to
implementation, as opposed to policy development .
On the other hand, it was argued that policies
could be embedded in practice so that officers do
not necessarily realise that they are implementing
the policy, but will avoid court-based challenges
to practice as a result . It was also suggested that
some associations, primarily smaller ones, simply
assume that their procedures produce compliance
with the PAP .
One possible “stimulus factor” which was
considered of little significance was the
homelessness prevention agenda . A number of
reasons were cited for this – it tends to be local
authority driven; evictions have a nil net impact
on homelessness because they free up a unit
of accommodation usually taken by a homeless
household but also create a homeless household .
3.2 The use of
possession actions
The general decline in numbers of possession
actions and evictions was noted by most
participants who were aware of these statistics .
This was said to be a consequence of a number of
developments in addition to those identified above .
Of most significance was the general improvement
in the administration of HB and the better working
relationships believed to have developed between
HB teams and HAs . One participant noted that it
has become unusual for an association to cite HB
administration as a problematic issue in the course
of an Audit Commission inspection . In the past, by
contrast, commencing proceedings for possession
was said to be one of the only effective methods of
pressuring HB authorities to prioritise casework in
relation to a specific claim .
For the NHF participant, the decline in possession
actions and evictions gave rise to the “headline
response on behalf of HAs that this is a
success story” .
The lender participant said that one of the issues
was essentially a cost-benefit analysis of bringing
possession proceedings . The primary question,
Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 45