The Govt have today announced that in the first quarter of this year the amount owing in rent arrears has fallen from £6,017,341 to £5,756,673.

 If rounded up to an annual figure, they claim, this would represent a 17.3% reduction in the amount of money owed. More importantly, it shows that Government measures have reversed the upward trend and that the arrears are now being brought under control.

Minister for Housing, Samantha Sacramento said: ‘We have been working hard on a strategy to recover arrears since last year, which we started to implement in January 2016 and are already seeing positive results. Essentially, the strategy is twofold; we are proactively recovering the existing debt whilst also introducing mechanisms to prevent new arrears being incurred and rolling over. By doing this, we are preventing the debt from escalating. We have further similar initiatives in the pipeline.

I would like to praise the hard work of my Ministry and the Housing Department for the significant recovery of arrears in a relatively short period of time. Further measures are being planned and will be implemented in the near future."

The CM also commented on this achievement "These figures speak volumes for the excellent work being done by the Minister for Housing, her Ministry and the Housing Department who have collected increased amounts of outstanding arrears. This reversal of recent trends will be particularly welcome news for all tenants who have dutifully paid their dues on time."