Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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Table 5.8 – Legal action initiated to prompt LA action to resolve HB claim Frequency of legal action instigated to prompt LA action to resolve HB claim Transfer Non-transfer All Often No 0 1 1 % 0 .0% 1 .0% 0 .4% Occasionally No 21 39 60 % 17 .2% 37 .9% 26 .7% Never No 101 63 164 % 82 .8% 61 .2% 72 .9% Responding HAs No 122 103 225 % 100 .0% 100 .0% 100 .0% Source: Online survey Although it might be contended that this should never happen, the vast majority of associations (84%) acknowledged that, in certain circumstances, possession actions would be issued despite the existence of an outstanding HB claim . Most respondents noted that this would be legitimate where it was believed that the tenant had failed to provide the HB section with information or proof required to substantiate the claim . Other relevant circumstances mentioned by numerous respondents included: 72 • Where the tenant is receiving or judged eligible (by the association) for partial HB only but where contributions to the unfunded rent are not being made • Where the tenant is judged by the association as ineligible for HB • Where the HB to which the tenant is believed entitled will not clear their debt (or where the remaining arrears would be above a given threshold amount)
• Where arrears were accrued before the HB claim was lodged and where the tenant is judged as having no realistic expectation of a backdated payment (and previous arrears are not being repaid) Another relevant scenario mentioned by one respondent was where the action had been triggered for reasons other than rent arrears . More questionably, another respondent stated simply that a claim might be pursued despite an outstanding HB claim simply if there were “very high arrears” . A sense of frustration was evident in the response stating that such action might be taken in “cases that drag on for months, where we have made every effort to assist benefits and claimants to resolve delay” . 5.4 Arrears management practice In addition to probing associations’ interaction with HB services, the survey also included questions about other aspects of arrears management practice . In particular, these sought to investigate the extent to which associations have been following official good practice advice to prioritise personal contact with tenants in arrears rather than relying mainly or exclusively on postal communication . 110 As noted in the official guidance, an “early intervention” strategy needs to encompass practices around the initial tenancy sign-up process . Part of this is about making clear the grounds under which possession might be sought . Well over half of associations responding in the survey (62%) reported that their tenancy sign-up procedures specifically required new tenants to be advised of these . How quickly do associations react when arrears begin to accumulate? In four-fifths of associations participating in the survey, it was routine to initiate some form of action in response to a single missed payment . While this might be interpreted as generally reassuring, it also raises questions as to why such practices are not universal . It is also notable that responding to a single missed payment appears to vary according to association size . Whereas the proportion of associations without such a procedure was only 17% among medium sized landlords (those managing 1,000-5,000 110 ODPM (2005) Improving the Effectiveness of Rent Arrears Management Practice: Good Practice Guidance; London: ODPM http://www . communities .gov .uk/documents/housing/pdf/138886 .pdf Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 73
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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
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 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: Within the transfer landlord cohort
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 and 124: 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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