TENANTS PAYING ARREARS AFTER LETTERS ISSUED
LOUTH County Council is reporting progress on the collection of rent arrears after sending out warning letters to tenants in arrears.
Senior Executive Officer Aoife Lawler told councillors at the Municpal District of Dundalk meeting last week that a major campaign had been started in Drogheda aimed at getting tenants to pay arrears and it would be rolled out in Dundalk in the coming weeks,
Responding to comments by Cllr Maeve Yore who complained that rent arrears had soared from €3million in 2015 to €5.3million at the end of 2107, Ms Lawler replied that arrears were now down to just over €5million at the end of December and it was hoped that this was the start of a downward trended.
She detailed how a major overhaul of the housing office was taking place, with staff authorised to work overtime as the council clamped down on those tenants who had let arrears mount up.
A decision had been made in Drogheda to target a cohort of 500 tenants and the council had issued instructions to the sheriff to recover dwellings if needed.
She praised councillors in Drogheda for their support and said the campaign was getting a lot of attention on social media.
Cllr Conor Keelan remarked that arrears had never been such an issue in the past when local councils had rent collectors on the ground.
Cllr Maria Doyle wanted to know how long was it taking to process budget forms for those people wishing to tackle their.
She was also of the opinion that Louth was one of the poorest performing local authorities in the country when it came to collecting rent arrears.
Cllr Edel Corrigan urged that the council be mindful of the situation which people might find them in as loan sharks were still operating in communities. She also pointing out that sometimes the arrears were not the fault of the tenant but dated to the changeover in the system.
Ms Lawler said that the review into arrears started in the beginning of December with a huge increase the number of letters issued by the local authority. Since then they had been ‘inundated’ with people wanting to enter into payment plans.
‘At the end of the December we are thrill to see the first indication that rent arrears are decreasing,’ she said.
They were aiming to deal with the back log by mid-February and they were looking at getting staff out on the ground.
‘We will be targeting Dundalk in the next few weeks,’ she continued. She revealed that they had changed the tone of the letters being sent out to those who hadn’t engaged with the council and when those people took to social media to complain, they faced a backlash from people saying that they should pay their rent.