Housing society's rent payment policy questioned
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A SOCIAL housing landlord is being accused of inflicting hardship on its tenants with a hard-line rent payment scheme.
Albyn Housing Society is being taken to task by the Ross and Cromarty branch of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau amid claims it is driving working families towards food banks by putting pressure on them to pay more backdated rent than they can afford.
The concerns are backed by the area’s MP Ian Blackford who is demanding the society which was set up to supply affordable accommodation to more than 2800 properties in 60 Highland communities carry out an urgent review.
However, the housing society insists its processes are irreproachable and in line with government guidelines.
The clash comes to light after the CAB’s Ross and Cromarty area manager Mary MacDonald raised the alarm with MP Mr Blackford saying “quite a number” of Albyn’s tenants were coming to her team saying they were struggling to make ends meet.
Ms MacDonald claimed that instead of taking monthly rent payments once its clients receive their universal credit benefit payments, Albyn Housing was demanding that they pay the rent up front.
She claimed that this meant that some tenants were being forced into debt because they have not yet received any rent money from the benefits office.
She claimed: “Because people are being asked to pay more than they can basically afford we have quite a number of working families who are having to come to request food parcels because they’ve no disposable income left. Albyn Housing is asking them to pay a lot more each month in some cases.”
The concerns were echoed by the MP Mr Blackford who said “for quite a while now”, he has been working with the CAB to get to bottom of “what I would generously describe as curious practices from Albyn Housing”.
He added: “In one case an Albyn Housing client who had just undertaken a tenancy was immediately sent a letter informing her rent was already in arrears.
“In effect, they are asking for a payment arrangement in view that it is a debt, and extra payment is, therefore, being requested each month.
“I am sure as a charitable organisation Albyn Housing has their tenants’ best wishes at heart, however, their recent practices raise many questions.
“These must be reviewed to ensure that no additional hardship is being brought upon the people who take up a tenancy with them.”
In response, Calum Macaulay, chief executive at Albyn Housing Society, insisted his rent due date had not changed and said his organisation followed the statutory form of tenancy laid out by the Scottish Government in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 “which states that rent is due on, or before, the first day of the month, paid in arrears”.
He went on: “Tenants claiming housing benefit previously had their rent paid directly to Albyn Housing.
“We were always made aware that the payment was due, and as such, any arrears would be treated as technical.
“Now, with universal credit, the tenant is responsible for paying their rent direct. The society has no dealings with the DWP and we are not made aware of incoming housing payments. This means that all tenants, regardless of whether they are claiming universal credit or not, are required to pay their rent in accordance with their tenancy agreement.”
He said housing officers would be “more than willing to help tenants make arrangements that work for them”.
It comes weeks after Albyn Housing had to apologise to a vulnerable tenant in Inverness after a boiler check bungle ended up leaving the single mum locked out of her flat for the night with her toddler daughter and having to rely on social workers to pay for emergency accommodation.
