❓ Hon Ray Halligan asks about bad debts incurred by the Department of Housing and Works, including amounts, debtor names, and measures to minimise them. The response refers to a previous question and outlines debt recovery processes.
AnsweredQoN 5129Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) The amount and number of bad debts incurred between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007?
(2) The names of outstanding debtors?
(3) What measures, if any, have been taken in the period between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 to keep bad debts to a minimum?
(2) The names of outstanding debtors?
(3) What measures, if any, have been taken in the period between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007 to keep bad debts to a minimum?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
17 October 2007
Responded by
Minister for Local Government representing the Minister for Housing and Works
Response time
50 days
The Department of Housing and Works advises:
(1-2) Please refer to Question on Notice 2539.
$3.663M represents 1.6% of the total rent collected in 2006-07. This compares to $4.717M in 2001/02.
(3) Please refer to Questions on Notice 2539 .
As the Member would appreciate, the Department of Housing and Works provides housing for some of society's most vulnerable people who often find themselves with competing financial priorities. There are a number of support programs in place provided by government and non-government agencies to assist clients experiencing financial difficulty including access to financial counselling services.
The Department of Housing and Works undertakes extensive in-house recovery of rental debts, which can culminate in eviction action under the
Residential Tenancies Act 1987
. Similar recovery action is taken for debts not relating to current rental tenancies. The Department has a debt recovery contract with two Mercantile Agents and where debtors have not entered into repayment arrangements, the debts are referred for recovery action.
It is only when tenants have vacated, evicted or abandoned their property and every effort has been made by both the Department and its Mercantile agents to recover the debt, that the Department will consider writing it off.
Debts incurred in current tenancies are not considered for write off, and action is pursued for recovery of the debt.
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(1-2) Please refer to Question on Notice 2539.
$3.663M represents 1.6% of the total rent collected in 2006-07. This compares to $4.717M in 2001/02.
(3) Please refer to Questions on Notice 2539 .
As the Member would appreciate, the Department of Housing and Works provides housing for some of society's most vulnerable people who often find themselves with competing financial priorities. There are a number of support programs in place provided by government and non-government agencies to assist clients experiencing financial difficulty including access to financial counselling services.
The Department of Housing and Works undertakes extensive in-house recovery of rental debts, which can culminate in eviction action under the
Residential Tenancies Act 1987
. Similar recovery action is taken for debts not relating to current rental tenancies. The Department has a debt recovery contract with two Mercantile Agents and where debtors have not entered into repayment arrangements, the debts are referred for recovery action.
It is only when tenants have vacated, evicted or abandoned their property and every effort has been made by both the Department and its Mercantile agents to recover the debt, that the Department will consider writing it off.
Debts incurred in current tenancies are not considered for write off, and action is pursued for recovery of the debt.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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