Despite the pandemic, First Choice Homes Oldham has reduced its arrears by £70,000 and beaten its collection rate of 99.7 per cent over the past 12 months following its introduction of Mobysoft’s RentSense software.
Sarah Aldred, head of income, First Choice Homes Oldham, said, “RentSense delivers an accurate arrears caseload which means we are speaking to tenants at the earliest opportunity. RentSense identifies where every arrears case is within our process, and it helps to automate the cases that need a text or letter, without the need for our housing officers’ intervention. This has helped our income team to have over 55,000 calls with tenants over the last 12 months, with the calls focused on building stronger relationships with our tenants.
“One officer called a tenant last week to ask how a job interview had gone, because it had come up in a previous conversation. Another tenant called us about an upcoming operation, which meant they wouldn’t be working and would therefore struggle with their rent in the short term. She told us about it beforehand and proposed her own payment plan, which has since covered the arrears.
“We have changed our approach; we’re not chasing arrears, we are building relationships, and that is what RentSense has enabled. We have had compliments from customers in the past year about the support we have offered. Despite all the challenges, we have reduced our arrears by over £70,000 and our cash collection was 100.5 per cent, exceeding our target of 99.7 per cent.”
