Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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easily by court order, and there is the accelerated procedure for ASTs (although use of that procedure precludes a claim for arrears of rent) . This means that although rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, may have triggered a landlord’s decision to end a supported tenancy there won’t have been a formal adjudication of that as such . As shown in Table 4 .3, the 2008-09 profiles of evictions in general needs and supported housing are highly contrasting . In the former, those resulting from rent arrears formed the vast majority (88%), whereas in the latter, the largest category of possessions was that triggered by anti-social behaviour . To a large extent, the higher rate of eviction from supported housing reflects the much greater prevalence of “ASB evictions” in this sub-sector . Again, the critical factor underlying this apparent contrast is that whereas securing possession in the case of assured tenancies requires a great deal of evidence this is not true in relation to licences or ASTs (because in the latter, eviction just follows from the relevant notice being served) . 56 Recent trends in rent arrears repossessions While the figures set out in Table 4 .3 represent the most detailed statistics available, they are not ideal for tracking changing rates of eviction over the past few years . Two factors are important here . First, the post-2005-06 figures shown here were affected by a change in Housing Corporation data collection practices whereby associations with less than 1,000 dwellings were no longer required to submit evictions statistics in annual RSR returns . In gauging the likely impact of this change it should be noted that associations with less than 1,000 general needs dwellings evicted some 600 general needs tenants for rent arrears in 2005-06 . On this basis, the underlying numerical reduction in arrears evictions recorded for 2006-07 to 2008-09 was probably only marginal . The second issue needing to be taken into account in interpreting the pattern of figures set out in Table 4 .3 is the overall expansion of the sector during this period . Ongoing stock transfers from local authorities, as well as new HA development added around 140,000 homes to the sector in the five years to 2008-09 . Changes in general needs eviction rates may be more reliably gauged via CORE lettings data, making reference to information collected on the reason that a property fell vacant prior to being re-let .
As shown in Figure 4 .1, CORE data illustrate that the gross eviction rate (ie including evictions for all reasons) fell steadily in the three years to 2007-08 – see Figure 4 .1 . However, although the 2008-09 rate remains 18% below the 2004-05 peak, the latest figure marks a reversal in the previous trend of decline . While the figures for local authorities are somewhat lower, the pattern over the two years to 2007-08 was similar . Figure 4.1 – Eviction rates – all repossessions of general needs housing, 2001-02 to 2008-09 Total evictions as a percentage of dwelling stock 0.7% 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0% 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Given that the vast majority of evictions from general needs housing relate to rent arrears, this means we can safely conclude that arrears-related possession actions have been in decline over this period . In the absence of more detailed figures, it must be assumed that such actions have fallen by around a quarter – in line with the overall downward trend (see above) . Notably, this has been achieved over a period when associations’ arrears management performance has been broadly stable (see Table 4 .1) Housing associations Local authorities Sources: Local authorities – Audit Commission BVPIs and HSSA; housing associations – CORE and RSR Note: Local authority figures collected only since 2005/06 Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 57
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Rent arrears management practices i
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Contents Executive summary . . . .
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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 and 38: authority can also lead to a lack o
Page 39 and 40: 2.5 The use of Ground 8 Although th
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: Table 4.3 - Housing association evi
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
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
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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
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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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