North Lanarkshire Council has written off £7.3 million in debts it has deemed to be non-collectable.
This total includes £3.9 million outstanding from tenancies which ended prior to April 2023, as well as £3.3 million incurred from a decision made last year to treat of Universal Credit Assistance Fund awards as grants instead of loans.
It also includes smaller sums in the form of credit balances from some former rent accounts and debts which existed prior to the Universal Credit change.
Outstanding rent arrears are written off annually by the council in cases where the debtor has been liquidated, sequestered or died, they can no longer be traced following eviction from or abandonment of the property, or all internal and legal methods to recover money have been exhausted.
The write-off was approved by the council’s housing committee and a report will be remitted to the finance committee.
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