Council in Louth to ‘hold firm line’ on maintenance for tenants in rent arrears
Louth County Council will continue to “hold a firm line” on carrying out non‑emergency maintenance for social housing tenants who are in rent arrears, councillors have been told.
The issue was raised at the March meeting of Drogheda Borough District, where Cllr. James Byrne acknowledged the ongoing work by the local authority to move tenants with arrears into payment plans. However, he asked whether entering such plans could be linked to maintenance requests.
“So if you are in a payment plan your maintenance request will be considered,” he said. “It would be an incentive for the tenants who are in arrears.”
According to the council’s latest monthly management report, 1,514 tenants are currently behind on their rent, with arrears totalling €4,075,989 at the end of January.
Senior Executive Officer Declan Grimes told the meeting that the council issued 116 letters to tenants in arrears last month alone. He said the authority intends to boost resources in its rent management team in the coming months to increase monitoring and carry out more rent reviews.
He said the council “holds a very strong line” on maintenance for tenants who owe rent.
“Unless it is emergency works or repairs when damage is done to a property, we won’t be carrying out any planned maintenance or energy retrofit works,” he said.
However, he confirmed that tenants who enter into a payment plan may be considered for works, depending on circumstances.
Where planned maintenance or retrofit works are already scheduled in an area, he said the council will work with tenants in arrears “so they don’t miss out,” but decisions will be made “on a case‑by‑case basis.”
Cllr. Pio Smith told the meeting that discussions at national level appear to be moving toward the introduction of a compulsory direct debit system for local authority rents.
“So there hopefully will be no more arrears,” he said.