COUNCIL bosses say they are slowly getting a grip on rent arrears.
At a meeting of Flintshire Council’s housing overview and scrutiny committee yesterday council officers said measures put in place to claw back more than £1 million in unpaid rent were working.
Last July a new income team was put in place to specifically tackle rent arrears.
Housing officer Brett Sadler said since November the level of arrears had started to come down.
“We are looking at a number of improvements. We are not just sitting back,” he said.
“What’s pleasing is that over the last three months, performance has started to improve. We have seen very positive improvements for rent arrears cases under £300.”
Latest figures show during the week beginning January 9, the number of tenants owing less than £300 has fallen from 2,309 to 1,694 since the same period last year.
But overall the total outstanding rent was £1.118m – an increase of £121,000 on the same period last year.
Housing chiefs admitted it would take a long time to claw back the rent from people owing higher amounts, as they repay at a rate of £3.40 a week.
Head of housing Clare Budden said: “We are confident now that we have got the right team in place and since November rent arrears have come down and we are
confident they will come down further.
“It will take many, many years, but if we are not allowing new tenants to build up arrears, then over time, the ‘high’ cases will come down.”
Cllr Carolyn Cattermoul said: “The team is getting the message out that we are not accepting rent arrears.
“But what depresses me is the huge amount of money owed and paying it back at £3.40 a week is an almost impossible task.”
Along with rent collections, Flintshire Council also collects payments for water and sewerage rates on behalf of Welsh Water.
Non-payment of the water rates is also combined within the rent arrears figure.
Housing bosses are now considering whether it is worth their while collecting water rates.
Officers agreed to investigate how much they are paid by the water company for collecting the payments, compared with how much is owed in rent arrears.