More than £10 million in rent arrears was written off by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive over a five-year period, it was revealed today.
The high level of write-offs was made so the public housing body was able to meet its corporate target of not allowing rent arrears at the end of one year to exceed those of the previous year, said a report from the Audit Office.
In the years 2002 to 2007 the Housing Executive was able to reduce its gross tenant arrears by an impressive looking £3.3 million - but only by writing off more than three times as much, £10.6 million.
The report described it as “a direct and substantial loss to the public purse”.
It said while the write-offs had produced a positive performance against the corporate target, the percentage of total rent collected had reduced and there were high levels of individual arrears.
The report showed individual debt in excess of £10,000 have been run up by tenants - and in one case more than £21,000.
The Housing Executive is at the bottom of the league in gathering in rents compared to English local authorities and the Audit Office said: “In our view these underlying indicators are of some concern and may become more problematic in the difficult economic climate ahead.”
It noted that eviction for non-payment of rent in the North was lower than in England - an average of 34 evictions a year.
However it said there had been a sharp rise in the last financial year with 45 tenants evicted in the first nine months of the year.
PA