The arrears report nobody has time to finish
Service charge demands went out at the start of the quarter. A few weeks later the credit controller, or more often the property manager, runs an aged debt report, exports it to Excel and starts working down it. Reminder letters for some, a phone call for others, a note on the file for the one who said the cheque is in the post.
Then a leak comes in, a director wants an update, and the list stops halfway. Next quarter it starts again from the top, and the leaseholders who were three months behind are now six.
Why the process keeps stalling
Most firms have a written credit control procedure: first reminder, second reminder, final notice, referral. The procedure is fine. What fails is that nothing runs it. Every stage depends on a person pulling a report, deciding who is at which stage and writing the letter.
The information needed to decide the stage is also split. The balance is in the accounts, but the fact that a leaseholder disputed a charge, agreed a payment plan or is selling the flat lives in emails and notes. So each letter needs a check first, and the check is what takes the time.
The cost to the blocks you manage
Arrears hit the block, not your firm. Contractors go unpaid or works get delayed because the service charge account is short, and the paying leaseholders end up subsidising the others. Directors of resident management companies notice and ask why.
There is a risk the other way too. A reminder sent to someone with an agreed payment plan, or a formal letter during a live dispute, damages the relationship and generates complaints that take longer to handle than the arrears themselves.
The arrears workflow we build
We automate the routine stages and keep people on the ones that need judgement. The stages and wording come from your procedure, not ours.
- Balance feed: we read leaseholder balances and demand dates from your block management system on a schedule, through its API or a report export.
- Hold flags: a simple register records disputes, payment plans, sales in progress and anything else that should pause chasing. Property managers set these, and the system respects them.
- Stage rules: each overdue balance is placed at the stage your procedure defines, based on age, amount and previous contact.
- Drafting and sending: reminders are generated from your templates with the correct figures and sent by email, with printed letters queued for those who need post.
- Escalation queue: anything reaching a final stage, or any account with a hold flag that has expired, goes to a named person with the history summarised.
- Block view: each block gets a current arrears summary that property managers can share with directors.
| Situation | What the system does | What a person does |
|---|---|---|
| Recently overdue, no flags | Sends the first reminder from your template | Nothing unless the leaseholder replies |
| Still unpaid at the next stage | Sends the next reminder and logs it | Reviews the list weekly |
| Dispute or payment plan recorded | Pauses chasing and shows the reason | Decides when to resume |
| Final stage reached | Stops and escalates with a summary | Decides next steps with the client's advisers |
What changes in the office
Routine reminders go out on time without anyone remembering to run a report. The credit controller or property manager works from a short list of accounts that need a decision, each with the balance, the history and any notes in one place.
When a director asks about arrears on their block, the answer is a current summary rather than a promise to look into it.
Is this your situation?
- Arrears chasing happens in bursts when someone finds time.
- Reminders have gone to leaseholders who had agreed a payment plan.
- The aged debt report lives in Excel and is rebuilt every quarter.
- Directors ask for arrears figures and it takes a day to produce them.
- Some blocks are short of funds for works because of long-running arrears.