Nottingham City Homes cuts rent arrears by 25% » Housing » 24dash.com

Nottingham City Homes (NCH) is helping tenants buck the recession, collecting £776,776 more in rent last year – making it the third best ALMO in the country for rent collection.

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

The increase in rent collection comes at the same time as a reduction in the number of evictions. NCH evicted 81 fewer tenants last year. This means that more people who can’t pay, for whatever reason, are asking 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."