Citizens Advice welcomes 'last resort' guidance on court action for rent arrears
23rd June 2005
National charity Citizens Advice has welcomed Government guidance urging council and housing association landlords to use eviction orders only as a last resort to tackle rent arrears.
Commenting on the good practice guidance published today by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), Citizens Advice Social Policy Officer Liz Phelps said:
"We very much welcome the fact that the guidance explicitly calls on social landlords to use eviction orders only as a last resort. The Citizens Advice service has long called for just such action because of our extensive experience of helping social housing tenants who are facing unnecessary court action for rent arrears.
"Again and again CAB advisers report social landlords taking possession action against vulnerable tenants before all alternatives have been explored. This is totally unacceptable and cannot possibly be justified when there are other ways of tackling rent arrears that have been shown to work.
She continued:
"We particularly welcomed the emphasis on social landlords taking such basic steps as ensuring that all housing benefit issues have been resolved and the tenant has been offered a referral to independent advice before court action is considered. In our view these measures alone could dramatically reduce the unacceptably high number of tenants who face eviction for rent arrears.
"The guidance should not be controversial - it is based on tried and tested approaches which many landlords have already adopted. But current practice is far too variable. We hope that the guidance will result in such best practice becoming the norm. If not, then the case for a statutory code of practice will become overwhelming".
In February 2003 Citizens Advice published a report Possession action - the last resort?, calling on the government to draw up a code of practice on preventing and recovering rent arrears to which all social landlords should subscribe. It also called for court action to be outlawed where there are outstanding housing benefit problems. It urged the Government to set targets for social landlords to reduce the number of evictions for rent arrears.
The report found evidence of tenants facing possession action despite being up-to-date with arrears repayments and when arrears could have been recovered through deductions from their benefits. Tenants - some with learning difficulties or mental health problems - were even facing possession action when their arrears were caused by delays completely beyond their control in the payment of their housing benefit.
CAB evidence was that the main factors causing people to fall into rent arrears were poverty, a sudden change in personal circumstances such as job loss, and delays or failures in the housing benefit system. Court costs averaging around £141 only add to the debt and can be disproportionate to the amount of rent owed. This makes legal action ineffective and inappropriate, driving tenants on low incomes even further into debt.
Last updated: February 23, 2007