Adding an Arrears Agreement

When a tenant falls into significant arrears, a housing body may enter into an agreement with that tenant to reduce the arrears over time. Such an arrears agreement will generally require the tenant to pay a fixed amount, over and above the current recurring charges, e.g. rent, on each charge / rent due day.

Within Affinity, an arrears agreement can be defined within the tenancy details area as such:

• Identify the tenant instance
• Select the Tenancies tab
• Edit the current tenancy by clicking on the pencil icon
• In the resulting screen click on the 'Add Arrears Agreement' button. This will result in a list of recurring charges, associated with this tenancy, which are currently in arrears to be listed.
• For each listed recurring charge enter the agreed Repayment Value. This is the amount over and above the current recurring charges that the tenant has agreed to pay.
• Specify the Agreement Start Date, i.e. the date on which the agreement commences. Note that this date must be no earlier than the current date.
• Click on the 'Add Arrears Agreement' button.

A banner will be displayed within the Association Details pane of the Details tab of the Tenant view to indicate that an arrears agreement is in place.

From the next recurring charge (rent) due date, Affinity will track payments from the tenant and highlight the arrears agreement status. This status will be displayed within the Association Details pane of the Details tab of the Tenant view and can have one of three states:

1. Green - the tenant is making all payments as defined by the arrears agreement.
2. Amber - the tenant is failing to satisfy the terms of the arrears agreement, but is no more than one rental period, e.g. one week, behind in the agreed repayments.
3. Red - the tenant is failing to satisfy the terms of the arrears agreement and is more than one rental period, e.g. one week, behind in the agreed repayments.