RENTSENSE
LOCAL AUTHORITY
Properties
Arrears reduction
Arrears Reduction
Mobysoft
Why did Wokingham choose to invest in RentSense? Did you speak to other users?
Simon Price
We invested in RentSense because we could see it was a good product that is used by a lot of landlords across the UK. We wanted to increase collections and reduce arrears and become more efficient, making it easier for officers to carry out their workload. We also wanted additional insight into performance.
Mobysoft
What’s your longer term view for arrears performance and targets, in what is a challenging environment?
Simon Price
We agreed a 2% target with tenants by 2024/25, and a number of things have come together to help us move closer to the target. We had a HQN associate visit and that highlighted improvements that could be made, especially around working practices and better use of data.
Harrison Wilks
We are currently on track to meet and maybe even exceed the 2% target. The challenges we will have going forwards will definitely be the cost of living rising rapidly and how we support our tenants with this.
Simon Price
The bottom line is we want to focus on supporting customers so we can reduce arrears and sustain tenancies. The pandemic helped demonstrate that you don’t have to evict and you can collect and support tenants and at the same time reduce arrears.
Mobysoft
Prior to RentSense how did the team derive their caseload and were there any issues with it?
Harrison Wilks
Workload had increased rapidly due to Universal Credit and the pandemic, but the system we used had issues, and there was additional reporting to do, which was difficult to navigate. The system frequently missed cases, and the more complex cases were often overlooked, as officers tried to find the right cases. Therefore, we needed a better way of working.
Mobysoft
How has RentSense helped?
Harrison Wilks
RentSense accurately prioritises tenants that need contact and early intervention. There are no additional reports to run, each officer is presented with their caseload and they can work through them.
Simon Price
RentSense has given that consistency of approach and consistency in our service which is so important. We are also able to be proactive and intervene earlier.
Mobysoft
What was the team’s expectations of RentSense?
Harrison Wilks
A solution that would cater for our needs and provide a easy to use and simple caseload system that was accurate. Which would give officers more time and help us help tenants and improve rent collection rates, which it has done.
Mobysoft
How has RentSense helped since officers and performance since deployment?
Harrison Wilks
It has allowed officers to provide more support to tenants, and helped us establish an improved payment culture through our more targeted recovery action. They are also able to plan their day more effectively. As well as a consistent service, it is now more timely as well. They have the ability to prioritise cases and provide relevant support to the right tenants at the right time.
We can see now that all cases are looked at and actioned, and it enables officers to track their own, and others, performances. Officers get a sense of satisfaction now as well, when they complete their caseload.
Angie O’Neill
RentSense is a simple application to use, it gives you cases to review on a weekly basis. It helps you focus on rent arrears and supporting the right tenants and if the RentSense workload is completed each week then arrears will reduce.
Mobysoft
What has happened to performance since go live? Also, what has happened to the number of tenants in arrears and other key tenancy sustainment metrics?
Our arrears have reduced by £156,000 since go live which is fantastic and collection has stayed above our target of 98.50%. Our arrears were 3.51% and now they are 2.61%. Early intervention is key and Rentsense has also allowed us to utilise this as much as possible, helping identifying the tenants really early on, who stop paying. This allows us to support them through whatever challenges they are going through and stop them falling further into arrears and maintaining performance.
Mobysoft
How has the service been from Mobysoft since go live?
Harrison Wilks
The service has been great, and the regular webinars I find really informative and able to take ideas from Mobysoft and other organisations that are presenting and use them at Wokingham.
Simon Price
The regular account director meetings are useful to see how we are performing against other organisations. The account director meetings also show me Mobysoft’s roadmap for the coming year showing the exciting products/innovations that will help improve performance for the coming years.
Mobysoft
Would you recommend RentSense to other users? Any other comments?
Harrison Wilks
Yes, I would recommend it. It is a great service and the team enjoy using it as it has allowed the them to prioritise the most important cases.
