1st
Jun 2021
Ashford council in Kent is contacting around 300 landlords to invite them to an online seminar on June 8th, and says it has intervened and resolved issues between tenants and landlords and reduced the number of evictions.
The council issued a statement saying it "has been working tirelessly” to stop “a flood of people made homeless” because of the bailiff eviction ban which ended on May 31st.
The statement says, “Ashford’s housing team first reached out to all local landlords and agents at the beginning of the pandemic, with advice on negotiating rent arrears and what to do if customers are struggling to pay the landlord.”
Sharon Williams, head of housing at the council, says: “Our officers have engaged with dozens of landlords and agents, explaining the range of support that is available from us when problems arise.
“But there are many more private sector landlords in the borough we have yet to reach and I would urge them to speak to us if they think they have a problem with a tenant that may lead to eviction.”
The council released a case study to demonstrate how successful it has been when intervening and resolving disputes between landlords and tenants, which states that: “We were contacted by a landlord regarding a tenant who was in serious rent arrears. The tenant had previously been working but had lost their job. He did not want assistance, hoping to find a new job and get back on track.
“Despite his best efforts, the arrears continued and our accommodation officer spoke with the tenant and offered support but again the tenant was convinced he would shortly clear the arrears and felt any assistance was not for him and would feel a failure in his responsibilities if he accepted help.
“After a several months of phone calls and emails [Ashford council] eventually was able to make tenant understand that this assistance is for everybody, and made him realise that help will take the pressure off for them to focus on finding a job without the pressure of potentially being evicted. Was given permission by tenant to send all his information through to the welfare intervention team who assisted with making a universal credit claim and discretionary housing payment to clear the arrears.
“In February 2021 we were told by the estate agent that the tenant was overjoyed, he had been at his wits end and thankful for the support he'd received from the landlord, estate agent and the council.”
Richard Merrick of PIMS says: “For once it’s good to hear of a forward-thinking council realising that landlords are not the ogres and how much they save the public purse, and more importantly getting the message out that their Welfare team can help tenants through their redundancy problems.”
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