RENTSENSE
LOCAL AUTHORITY
Properties
Arrears Reduction 2.15% down to 1.76%
Caseload Reduction
Fewer Evictions (58 down to 38)
Mobysoft
What was income collection like prior to RentSense?
Janis Robert-Edwards
It was a very manual system, and at that time I thought RentSense could help as I had attended a seminar where one landlord discussed at length their improving performance and validated this with detailed statistics. When asked how they did this their reply was. ‘We use RentSense, we could not have done this without it.’ And that got me thinking that RentSense could help us at Havering.
Mobysoft
Your caseload has dropped by 61% (typically 5,151 cases with the HMS and 1,983 with RentSense) how important is this reduction?
Janis Robert-Edwards
We wanted RentSense to enable people to be able to focus more on the task at hand rather than waste time looking at cases that needed no action. RentSense cleverly filters the cases that need prioritising and it really does save officers a lot of time so that they can focus on the things that require attention.
Mobysoft
RentSense has enabled Havering to redeploy capacity from within the team, what does that meam for tenants.
Janis Robert-Edwards
This means more tenants get visited in the week which is really important. All areas of the borough are being visited in the one week, so we can tackle all the issues. Evictions have fallen as well as a result.
Mobysoft
Does RentSense help you manage and support the team?
Andrea Ball
RentSense is a really effective monitoring tool. I can now see what everyone is doing and actioning and it’s a system that I would not want to be without.
Reducing Arrears
The 1.76% arrears is a fantastic figure for the council, especially in light of welfare reform. It is the first time we have been under 2%. RentSense has helped by alleviating the pressure on the income team and giving them the time to deal with the caseload.”
Mobysoft
What has been the impact of RentSense on collections?
Janis Robert-Edwards
Our collections increased to over 100%. At the council we have a policy of not writing off current tenant debt, so the reduction in arrears is not from debt write offs, it’s from improving collections.
Mobysoft
Would you recommend RentSense to other landlords?
Janis Robert-Edwards
Yes, it’s a great help. I remember from my time as an income officer, the hardest thing for an income officer is to get through their weekly caseload. By the time you get to the end of it, weeks later, you dread going back to the start, that’s why RentSense is so helpful, it gets rid of that issue
