« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
9. Rent arrears and rents written off (Charts 13 and 14)
Total rent arrears at 31 March 2008 were estimated at £35.4m, a drop of £5.7m or 16% on 31 March 2007. Nationally, rent arrears at 31 March 2008 represent 4.3% of standard rental income. The scale of rent arrears varies widely between councils, from an estimated 1.1% of standard rental income in West Lothian at 31 March 2008 to 9.5% of standard rental income in Aberdeen City.
At 31 March 2008 there were 79,126 council tenants in arrears, a fall of 8,721 (9.9% fall) from 31 March 2007. The number of former tenants in arrears also fell, from 36,486 at 31 March 2007 to 33,586 at 31 March 2008, a fall of 2,900 (7.9% fall).
In their 2008-09 budgets councils are budgeting to write off £8.0m of outstanding rent as unrecoverable. This represents 0.9% of standard rent income. Budgeted write-offs for 2008-09 vary from 0% in Midlothian, Orkney and Shetland to 2.2% of standard rent income in Aberdeen City. Amounts of arrears written off by councils can be influenced by councils' accounting policies and judgements on whether arrears are recoverable.
Chart 13: Scotland: Rent arrears at 31 March as percentage of standard rental income
Chart 14: Rent arrears at 31 March 2008 as a percentage of annual standard rental income on houses: 2008-09
« Previous | Contents | Next »