Newport City Homes Rent Arrears Recovery Policy (P13) 1. Introduction
1.1 Newport City Homes aims to improve rent collection and reduce rent arrears to maximise the funds available to provide high quality housing management and maintenance services to residents. 1.2 This policy sets out Newport City Homes approach for ensuring that every resident is made aware of their responsibility to pay rent under their tenancy agreement, the action that can be taken and the support and advice that residents will receive to enable them to maintain their tenancy. 1.3 The term resident used in this policy applies to all tenants, leaseholders and shared owners of Newport City Homes. 1.4 All policies have been developed jointly by members of the Board, Tenants Panel and staff. 2. Policy statement 2.1 Newport City Homes understands that residents circumstances change for a variety of reasons and this may make it difficult for them to pay their rent. 2.2 Where residents are having trouble paying their rent, staff will offer appropriate advice and assistance. This will include working with residents in developing an affordable repayment plan. 2.3 Newport City Homes will work closely with Newport City Council, the Benefits Agency and other agencies to help maximise the take-up of welfare benefits. 2.4 Where residents fail to pay their rent or keep to an agreed repayment plan Newport City Homes will, as a last resort, take legal action for breach of tenancy. 3. Principles of the policy 3.1 The main principles of Newport City Homes arrears recovery policy are to: Help prevent arrears from occurring in the first place Make early personal contact with residents in arrears to determine the reason for non-payment Make an agreement in writing with the resident to reduce the arrears and closely monitor compliance Ensure the availability of appropriate financial advice to increase residents ability to pay their rent and manage their debt Take account of vulnerable residents Achieve continuous improvement in relation to arrears by ensuring that performance is regularly monitored, reported and reviewed 3.2 Newport City Homes will keep residents informed at all stages of the arrears process.
3.3 Newport City Homes will only consider eviction as a final resort where all possible means of reducing and ultimately clearing the debt have been taken and have been ignored. 3.4 Newport City Homes will liaise with relevant bodies when an eviction is proposed, for example Social Services, Homelessness etc. 3.5 Training and support will be given to staff on arrears management, debt management and benefit entitlement. 3.6 Staff will deal with arrears recovery in a sympathetic and professional manner and will be fully trained to be able to make reasoned and informed judgement when dealing with individual cases. 4. Relevant legislation and regulatory compliance 4.1 Newport City Homes will comply with all relevant legislation and statutory requirements, including the following: Housing Acts 1988, 1996,1998 and 2004 Children Act 1989, S27 The Human Rights Act 1998 Data Protection Act 1998 and County Court protocol 5. Implementation of the policy 5.1 Prevention of arrears 5.2 Newport City Homes believes that successful arrears control begins with arrears prevention, which starts on the first day of a new tenancy. 5.3 New residents will be given advice on all conditions of tenancy before signing their tenancy agreement. This will include: Details of the payments that are due under the tenancy agreement and what will happen if these payments are not made Advice and assistance on claiming welfare benefits, including housing benefit A how to pay your rent leaflet outlining the different ways in which rent can be paid and what will happen if payments are missed Guidance on where to obtain additional independent advice and support Details of Newport City Homes complaints policy 5.4 In addition to the detailed advice given at the signing of the tenancy, all new residents will be visited within 6 weeks of moving into their new home. This visit is intended to give residents the opportunity to discuss any issues or concerns that they may have at that time, including questions or concerns about rental payment
5.5 Recovery of arrears 5.6 Newport City Homes recognises that most residents pay their rent on time but on occasion missed payments arise. In these cases our aim is to adopt a fair, responsive and where necessary firm approach to arrears recovery. 5.7 In pursuing any outstanding rent arrears, Newport City Homes will: Ensure that all new and existing residents are made aware of their responsibility to pay rent and other charges in accordance with their tenancy agreement Inform residents promptly of any changes to rent charges Provide residents with information, advice and assistance on housing benefit and other welfare benefits in order to maximise their ability to pay rent Make early personal contact with residents who fall into arrears with the aim of establishing the reason for non-payment Undertake a financial assessment of a residents circumstances with a view to making realistic and affordable arrangements to pay off arrears and confirm this in writing Take possession action against residents who persistently fail to pay rent and other charges 5.8 Former Resident Arrears 5.9 Newport City Homes will actively pursue all debt left by former residents including rent arrears. This may result in a collection agency being instructed to collect the outstanding debt on behalf of Newport City Homes. 5.10 Newport City Homes will accept payments by instalment, where appropriate, allowing repayment of the outstanding amount over time. 5.11 If the former resident is in employment and ignores requests for payment, Newport City Homes may seek a money judgement order and enforcement action such as Attachment of earnings. 5.12 Newport City Homes has the discretion to cease recovering a former resident debt where it is not cost effective to pursue the debt. 5.13 Newport City Homes will not write off former resident debts without taking all reasonable steps to recover them. 5.14 Re-instatement of debts that have been written off will be possible if at a later date the whereabouts of a former resident is obtained. 5.15 Rent Collection 5.16 Newport City Homes is committed to collecting all the money that it is owed, whilst recognising that some residents need support in meeting their payment responsibilities.
5.17 Newport City Homes provides a range of convenient and flexible payment methods to maximise opportunities for residents to pay their rent and suit their individual needs. These methods include, wherever possible, paying by: Housing Benefit direct payment Cash or cheque at housing offices Cash, cheque or swipe card at the Post Office Post with a cheque Direct debit or standing order Telephone using a credit or debit card Payment over a secure internet site Direct deduction from salary where the resident is employed by Newport City Homes 5.18 Newport City Homes will provide accurate and timely information on rent accounts by sending all residents quarterly rent statements, accompanied with an explanatory letter. 5.19 Housing Benefit 5.20 Newport City Homes recognises the importance of good quality advice to residents in respect of housing benefit entitlement and administration. 5.21 Newport City Homes acknowledges that some arrears result from delays in the payment of housing benefit. Where residents are in arrears as a result of delays in processing housing benefit claims, we will listen and give advice on how to resolve the problem. 5.22 Newport City Homes will also establish close and effective liaison with Newport City Council, to help ensure prompt payment of Housing Benefit. 5.23 Support for vulnerable residents 5.24 Newport City Homes will take steps to identify residents who may be vulnerable and require additional support to manage their tenancy and remain in their home. 5.25 Appropriate support and advice will be offered to any resident who is suffering financial hardship and has subsequently fallen into arrears. 6. Risk implications 6.1 Failure to have a clear and consistent policy to deal with arrears recovery may lead to poor performance. This could result in a negative impact upon the reputation and image of Newport City Homes, leading in turn to a loss of public confidence.
7. Financial Implications 7.1 A failure to manage rent arrears effectively will result in a direct loss of income to Newport City Homes, with a corresponding reduction in the money available to provide high quality housing services. 7.2 Poor performance on arrears recovery could have a negative impact upon the confidence of financial institutions in Newport City Homes. This could result in a detrimental effect upon the rate of interest payable on any future loans. 8. Equality Implications 8.1 Newport City Homes is committed to giving an equal service to all. Any action taken under this policy will comply with current equalities legislation. 8.2 Newport City Homes staff will operate within the Equality and Diversity Policy and seek to address any specific needs which may arise in respect of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly or vulnerable residents. 8.3 Newport City Homes will in all reasonable circumstances make information available in a variety of information formats, including: large print audio tape community languages 9. Welsh Language Implications 9.1 Newport City Homes recognises the right of people to conduct their business through the medium of Welsh. 9.2 Newport City Homes will meet the requirements of the Welsh Language Act 1993 and offer a choice of using English or Welsh when communicating with Newport City Homes. 10. Resident Participation Implications 10.1 Newport City Homes will keep residents informed on general issues regarding rent, welfare benefits and housing benefit by regular updates in residents newsletters, subject specific leaflets and the residents handbook. 10.2 Where appropriate, residents may be asked to complete a satisfaction survey indicating their views on how their arrears case was handled and the quality and effectiveness of any advice and support they received. 10.3 Newport City Homes will provide performance information to residents so they can measure and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the services delivered.
10.4 Newport City Homes will listen to residents views at every opportunity to enable continuous improvements to services, in line with its Resident Participation Strategy. 11. Policy monitoring 11.1 To help achieve our aim of being a continuously improving organisation and to ensure that we meet all statutory obligations, Newport City Homes has systems and processes in place which allow us to monitor and evaluate our performance. 11.2 Realistic arrears reduction targets will be agreed with each area housing manager. These targets will be set and reviewed on an annual basis. 11.3 In particular, performance monitoring on arrears on a quarterly basis will be presented to the Board and City Wide Residents Panel, including: Amount of rent collected as a proportion of the rent owed Percentage of residents with rent arrears Percentage of residents who have had notices served for rent arrears Percentage of residents evicted for rent arrears Percentage of rent written off Number of residents with arrears over 1000 Arrears trends on an area basis Performance against targets 11.4 Newport City Homes will publish information on arrears performance on a yearly basis in its annual report. 11.5 Newport City Homes will benchmark its performance against other similar housing associations with the aim of achieving continuous improvement and to ensure compliance with best practice. 12. Links to other relevant policies/documents 12.1 This policy links closely with the following policies and documents: 13. Review How to pay your rent leaflet Re-chargeable repairs Policy Complaints Policy Confidentiality Policy Equality and Diversity Policy Tenancy agreement and Residents handbook Resident Participation Strategy 13.1 This policy will be reviewed by the Board every three years unless there is a change in legislation.