Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Statistics: Scottish Local Authority Housing Income and Expenditure 1997-98 to 2021-22 (actuals) 2022-23 (estimates)

9. Rent arrears and the rents written-off

(charts 10, 11) (tables 16a, 16c, 17a, 17c, 19a, 19b, 20)

9.1 Total rent arrears on all properties on HRAs at 31 March 2022 was £101m, a rise of £11.7m (13.1%) since 31 March 2021. Nationally, rent arrears at 31 March 2022 represent 7.8% of Standard Rental Income on all properties on the HRA compared with 7.1% as at 31 March 2021 and is the highest value recorded over the past decade. As reported earlier some councils reported that COVID-19 had impacted on the level of rent arrears.

9.2 From 2008-09 the statistics collected from Local Authorities have separately identified rent arrears on dwellings from rent arrears in other properties held on councils' HRAs.

9.3 As at March 2022, rent arrears on council dwellings was £99m, up £11.5m (13.2%) on last year, representing 7.8% of Standard Rental Income from these dwellings. Rent arrears on dwellings varied from 13.9% of Standard Rental Income from dwellings in Midlothian to 1.3% in East Renfrewshire.

9.4 As at 31 March 2022 there were 110,347 council tenants in arrears, an increase of 6,846 tenants (a 6.6% increase) compared to 31 March 2021. The number of former tenants in arrears increased by 1,490 (a 5.2% increase) from 28,364 at March 2021 to 29,854 as at 31 March 2022.

9.5 In 2021-22 budgets, councils wrote-off £9.7m of outstanding rent as unrecoverable (this represents 0.8% of Standard Rental Income) compared to £11.7m in the previous year. Write-offs for 2021-22 varied from none in Clackmannanshire and Dundee City to £1.8m in North Lanarkshire. Amounts of arrears written-off by councils can be influenced by councils' accounting policies and judgements on whether arrears are recoverable.