It has promised to take into account the results of the Direct Payment pilots, which show increased levels of rent arrears, before the rollout of direct payments nationwide.

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Meanwhile, rent arrears the amount of rent outstanding not paid by tenants fell in the same period, underscoring the growth potential in multifamily developments.

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Housing charities are warning that the result of the changes will be higher levels of rent arrears, and greater homelessness.

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The write-offs were made so the body could show that it had not allowed its annual rent arrears to exceed those of the previous year.

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The Audit Office said while the write-offs had produced a positive performance against the corporate target, the percentage of total rent collected had reduced and there were high levels of individual arrears.

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The Housing Executive in Northern Ireland has revealed that almost a third of their tenants are currently in rent arrears.

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The number of eviction cases, usually involving a tenant with rent arrears, initiated in the sheriff courts fell 1% to 13, 979.

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More than a third of people who contacted Shelter last year had fallen into rent arrears.

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Tenant arrears increased for the first time since April, with 10.7% of all UK rent unpaid or late by the end of August.

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When I asked the DWP what sort of rent collection figures the pilots had identified I was told the projects were "not about arrears but learning lessons".

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