Our approach to rent debt
We expect our tenants to pay their rent on time and in full.
Our approach to managing rent debt focuses on helping tenants avoid falling too far behind. If a tenant misses a rent payment, we’ll get in touch quickly to understand why they have fallen behind and get back on track with their rent. Any missed rent must be repaid, and we can help put a reasonable repayment arrangement in place if needed.
We support households who fall on hard times but are making genuine attempts to get back on track with their rent. We’re a social housing landlord so that’s the right thing to do.
But we are drawing a line on how patient we can be.
We are taking a firm approach with the small number of tenants who are not meeting their obligations to reduce their rent debt, are skipping rent payments or refusing to work with us.
If this happens, we will take steps to end the tenancy.
Our approach seeks to ensure that tenants will not have accumulated more than 12 weeks’ worth of rent debt when their tenancy is ended to prevent large debts in the future.
This means we will begin the process of ending a tenancy earlier than in the past.
Rent Debt Policy POL-399 [PDF, 911 KB]
Partial rent debt reduction
A small number of tenants owed a significant amount of rent debt, and we helped a number of them get on top of it faster by reducing the amount owed to a level that is more realistic for them to repay in full.
This support was only offered to tenants who had 12 weeks’ worth of rent debt at the beginning of February 2025 and were consistently paying their rent and making reasonable payments to reduce their debt.
In return, tenants are expected to continue reducing what they owe and paying their rent on time and in full. If that doesn’t happen, we will take steps to end their tenancy.
Frequently asked questions
The minimum weekly repayment amounts have been carefully considered, and it is important that you stick to them. If you are struggling with your budget, where possible we can connect you with budgeting support services in your area who may be able to help you get on top of your finances so you can keep making the repayments and continue your tenancy.
See our budgeting page for more information on services that can help.
We will continue to support tenants who fall behind on their rent and are making genuine attempts to get back on track with their payments. We're a social housing landlord, so that's the right thing to do.
But we are drawing a line on how patient we can be. It's important to remember that we will end tenancies if tenants do not meet their obligations be ignoring rent debt, regularly skipping rent payments and refusing to work with us. We will do this more quickly than we have in the past to help ensure tenants do not accumulate more than 12 weeks' worth of rent when their tenancy is ended.
Rent debt management
*This table shows the latest 6 months' worth of data.
|
Rent arrears activity |
Financial year ended 30 June 2025 |
July 2025 |
Aug 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Customers with rent debt |
6,270 |
6,111 |
5,642 |
|
Percentage of customers in debt whose debt is reducing |
81% |
81% |
83% |
|
Total rent debt owed ($m) |
$6.89m |
$6.31m |
$5.81m |
|
Tenancy terminated due to obligations not being met |
101 |
11 |
5 |
Page updated: 8 October 2025