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Rent arrears cut by 25%

The Rents team at Nottingham City Homes is helping tenants buck the recession, collecting £776,776 more in rent last year – making us the third best ALMO in the country for rent collection.

Rent arrears in Nottingham now stand at just over £2.8m. Although this is still high, it is a far cry from the £5m owed to us in 2006. Over the past three years the team has worked tirelessly to help tenants catch up on their arrears and provide a wider range of payment options. This has seen us soar from the 24th best ALMO in the country for rent collection in 2007/08 to the third best in 2008/09.

We are supporting more people than ever before, helping them to maximise their income and manage their budget more effectively. Now fewer tenants are in arrears and their lives are no longer blighted by being in debt.

The increase in rent collection comes at the same time as a reduction in the number of evictions. We evicted 81 fewer tenants last year. This means that more people who can’t pay, for whatever reason, are coming to us for help, rather than ignoring the problem and facing eviction. Only those who refuse to pay will face eviction.

Most people in arrears are behind by a few weeks, but there are some extreme cases where tenants can owe more than 52 weeks rent. But this number has also significantly reduced. The number of people owing more than a year’s rent is now just five. This is down from 117 in December 2005.

Gill Moy, Director of Housing Services at Nottingham City Homes, said: “We know times are hard for many of our tenants at the minute, but it is important not to let your rent arrears build up. A member of our Rents Team can help tenants find easier ways to pay, seek benefits they may be entitled to, and look at smarter ways of managing their money.”

Collecting more rent each year means we have more money to put back into the services we provide. But there are other personal long term benefits for our tenants. Although it may seem hard to pay back the extra money they owe, reducing debt and arrears also helps to improve their credit rating

For more information on getting help with rent arrears, or if you have a question about your rent account, call us on 0115 915 4920 or email: rents@nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk

(Fri, 12 June 2009 09:00:00 GMT)

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