Housing Revenue Account (HRA) statistics: income and expenditure

Rent arrears and the rents written-off (charts 10 & 11)

27. Total rent arrears on all properties on HRAs at 31 March 2017 were estimated at £66m, a rise of around £5m (9%) since 31 March 2016 and an increase of £29m (81%) since 31 March 2012. Nationally, rent arrears at 31 March 2017 represent 5.8% of Standard Rental Income on all properties on the HRA compared with 5.4% as at 31 March 2016 and is the highest value recorded since this series started in 1997/98.

28. 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.

29. As at March 2017, rent arrears on council dwellings was £64m, up £2.5m (4%) on last year, representing 5.8% of Standard Rental Income from these dwellings. Rent arrears on dwellings varied from 14% of Standard Rental Income from dwellings in East Lothian to 1.5% in East Renfrewshirer^[r].

30. As at 31 March 2017 there were around 96,650 council tenants in arrears, a decrease of around 800 tenants or 1.0% compared to 31 March 2016. The number of former tenants in arrears also decreased to around 32,150 as at 31 March 2017 from around 32,900 in the previous year, a decrease of just over 2.0%.

31. In 2016-17 budgets, councils wrote-off nearly £10.5m of outstanding rent as unrecoverable (this represents 1.0% of Standard Rental Income) compared to £8.6m in the previous year. Write-offs for 2016-17 varied from around 10K in Dundee City to £0.6m in Aberdeen City. Amounts of arrears written-off by councils can be influenced by councils' accounting policies and judgements on whether arrears are recoverable^[r].

Chart 10: Rent arrears as percentage of total rental income on all properties on the Housing Revenue Account,¹ Scotland, 1997-98 to 2017-18²

Source:
Scottish Government, Communities Analytical Division - based on Housing Revenue Account returns provided by Scottish Local Authorities.

Notes:
1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector, therefore HRA information is not available for them.
2. Dotted lines indicate breaks in comparability following the transfer of housing stock as follows:

• from 2003-04 transfer of housing stock from Glasgow, Dumfries & Galloway and Scottish Borders,
• from 2006-07 transfer of housing stock from Argyll & Bute and Eilean Siar,
• from 2007-08 transfer of housing stock from Inverclyde.

Chart 11: Rent arrears at 31 March as a percentage of annual standard rental income on houses¹, by Local Authority, March 2016 to March 2017

Source:
Scottish Government, Communities Analytical Division - based on Housing Revenue Account returns provided by Scottish Local Authorities.

Notes:
1. Six councils transferred their housing stock to the housing association sector, therefore HRA infomration is not available for them.