 The last resort campaign ( 170kb) - Outcomes from the Citizens Advice campaign to make possession action the last resort
Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) throughout England and Wales ttook part in a campaign aimed at influencing the rent recovery practices of social landlords so that possession action is only taken as a last resort. The genesis of this campaign came from the Citizens Advice evidence report Possession Action – the last resort? Published in February 2003, the report argued that too often social landlords were using possession action as a means of recovering rent arrears, before all alternative remedies had been exhausted. It made a number of recommendations for change, in particular that all social landlords should sign up to a common Statement of Practice on the recovery of arrears, key elements of which would be to ensure possession action was not taken before all housing benefit issues had been resolved and tenants had had the opportunity of a referral to independent advice.
Following this campaign, the ODPM published in July 2005 a good practice guide for social landlords:  Improving the effectiveness of rent arrears management. The Citizens Advice service has welcomed this guidance which reflects many of our recommendations.
Social Policy contact: Lip Phelps Social.policy@citizensadvice.org.uk
The last resort campaign ( 170kb) - Outcomes from the Citizens Advice campaign to make possession action the last resort
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