Issue - meetings

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Housing Panel on 10 December 2018 on the adoption of this new policy.

The Former Tenant Arrears Policy was adopted, as recommended by the Cabinet Housing Panel.

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Housing Panel on 10 December 2018 on the adoption of this new policy.

(1)        The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

That the Former Tenant Arrears Policy be adopted, as recommended by the Cabinet Housing Panel.

(2)        Reasons for the Decision

The Policy set out the Council’s approach to recovering former tenant arrears on both Council (housing) tenancy and garage rent accounts and applied to all tenants who had or have had a Secure Tenancy, Flexible Tenancy or Non Secure Tenancy with the Council.

A new dedicated staff member was in place to prioritise former tenant debts with this new post being created as part of the wider Housing Operations Transformation Programme.

The Council would be proactive in collecting former Tenant Arrears using a range of methods in a flexible, but fair and consistent way and using the methods which were considered to be the most effective on a case by case basis that delivered value for money.

It was important to effectively recover former tenant debts to ensure that the Council was maximising income to continue to deliver services.

The Tenants’ Panel had already been consulted and provided comments which had been incorporated into the policy.