‘Irrecoverable’ housing debts written off by Harrogate council doubles this year

A total of £61,853 in debts owed to the council have been crossed off for 2021/22 - almost twice as much as the £32,277 in 2020/21 and the largest amount in at least the last six years.

A council spokesperson said the increase was mostly down to debts owed by temporary accommodation users who have stayed at council hostels, houses and flats across the district, but were no longer traceable.

The spokesperson also said a large amount of the debts were owed by council tenants who died and had no assets to pay what they owed.

The spokesperson said: "There are a number of reasons we have decided to write off the debt from former council tenants; the majority of these come from either tenants that have sadly passed away or tenants who left their property and remain untraceable.

“In both instances, there is almost no way that this can be recovered and, if it could, may ultimately cost more than the outstanding debt to try and do so.

“The vast majority of the increase - compared to last year - is due to the level of rent debt being written off for former temporary accommodation tenants.

"If the former tenant applies for council housing at a future date the arrears can still be recovered."

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Before any debts over £500 are recommended for write off, the council said at least two searches are carried out using tools such as the National Anti Fraud Network before further checks are made for housing benefit or waiting list applications.

Meanwhile, the majority of debts under £500 are considered to be "too small to make the cost of recovery action worthwhile," the council said.

There were almost 100 incidents where council tenants had died in 2021/22, with the debts totalling almost £19,000.

The single largest debt was £2,903 owed by a temporary accommodation user who was considered to be untraceable after ending their stay.

A decision to write off all of the debts - some of which predate this year - was taken by the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, councillor Graham Swift, at a meeting on Monday.

A report to councillor Swift said the council had made "sufficient bad debt provision" in its finances to accommodate the write offs and that this would not impact on its spending plans

It also said the amount of the provision made will be reviewed and increased if necessary for any future write offs.

The council spokesperson added: “The total arrears represent less than 0.5% of the annual housing debit.

"The money is a loss to the housing revenue account, which is funded almost entirely from rent income from tenants, rather than through council tax."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter