A warning has been sounded that Angus Council may have hit a plateau in the fight against rent arrears, which have seen a dramatic decline in non-payment over four years.
The authority’s latest figures show that at the end of March, the total outstanding level of unpaid rent sits at just over £1.4 million.
That represents an overall improvement but a breakdown reveals a disappointing upturn in the figure relating to monies due from current council house tenants.
And there are fears that bringing problem payers to book may become even tougher in the face of benefit changes and the continuing impact of the economic downturn.
The total Angus figure due at the end of March was £1.417 million a reduction of over £128,000 from the start of February.
Total rent arrears cases dropped by 225, but the improvements were made in securing monies from former tenants against current tenant totals relating to both the total owed (up from £720,307 to £727,184) and caseload (up from 2347 to 2393).
Neighbourhood services director Ron Ashton reported that the 2010/11 end-of-year figure of 7.83% continues the improvement since 2007/08 when the arrears level was 13.6%.
However, the slowdown is evident in just a 0.07% drop from the previous year and Mr Ashton admitted the task of clawing in money owed to the council is becoming harder.
He said, “The decline in rent arrears is slowing down in Angus and future changes to housing benefit are being tracked to understand their possible impact on this area of business.
“The housing division will review and refresh the rent arrears strategy over the coming months, including a benchmarking and peer review initiative with other top performing providers.”
He added, “In the meantime, all efforts are being made to sustain the decline in arrears but in the current economic climate maintaining the current positive momentum is a growing challenge.”
Mr Ashton said that the figures fluctuate due to factors such as dates for direct debit payments.
At the end of March the greatest number of arrears cases were in Arbroath, Carnoustie and Monifieth, where 955 accounts worth £271,136 are being pursued.
In Forfar and Kirriemuir 731 cases account for £264,296 of arrears while Montrose and Brechin’s 651 cases total £176,567.
Almost 1500 of the 2337 cases in those areas relate to arrears of less than £250.
Neighbourhood services convener Jim Millar said, “We continue to make it clear that although the council will give support to tenants facing difficulties in paying rent, and take early steps to prevent arrears accumulating, we still expect payment of rent to be seen as a priority.”
Councillors have agreed that future rent arrears performance should be reported quarterly.