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Leasehold Debt Recovery Policy

Enforcement of debt

Should leaseholder still not make payment on the debt, after a county court judgment, there are various options available to the council which should be considered on a case by case basis.

  • Attachment to earnings
  • Deduction from benefits
  • Bailiff services
  • Debt collection agencies
  • Bankruptcy
  • Liquidation
  • Forfeiture of lease (possession proceedings)
  • Legal Charge on Property Enforcement action will be considered and agreed by the Housing Income Manager in consultation with Head of Service and Legal Services Team.

Costs

It is unreasonable to expect all leaseholders to pay for the costs of formal debt recovery. Therefore, the costs involved in the formal recovery of debts will be added to the service charge account. However these costs should be kept to a minimum and to only those reasonably incurred in collecting the debt.

Bad debts / Write-offs

As service charges are a recurring debt that forms part of the lease agreement, there will be very few circumstances where debts will be written off. If write-off is to be considered, reference should be made to the Housing Write-off Policy which sets out the criteria and conditions for the writing off of debt.

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