An amendment for the Department of Infrastructure to ‘continue negotiations’ with what it calls key stakeholders on rent payments has been passed in Tynwald with unanimous support.

Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse moved an amendment that the department should extend the period in which tenants can pay their rent at their local post office until the last day of October 2022.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall amended this to instead give an update in July on the situation as proposed by Mr Moorhouse but said the department would continue negotiations with key stakeholders on the payments.

This follows the announcement that tenants in social housing won’t be able to pay their rents at post offices from April.

Mr Moorhouse said in his speech to Tynwald that he was ‘very concerned’ about the ‘rushed nature of this decision’, and that constituents had reported getting cold calls from the department regarding their rents.

He said: ‘We need to ensure that we do not rush ahead when this could be done at a slower pace and analyse the major impacts this will have on people.

‘Island residents have some limits in terms of access to cash.’

He referenced the fact the letter informing tenants of this decision came out shortly after the Access to Cash report by the government.

‘When this letter was going out the Department for Enterprise was issuing its access to cash report and in the third paragraph it states that there will still be some members of our community who choose to continue to use physical currency and some who may not be able to access alternatives,’ he said. ‘Something went seriously wrong here.

‘There are many options for the department to consider in the next few months so that all people have adequate solution.’

The minister told the Isle of Man Examiner: ‘The amendment will result in Minister Crookall providing an update in July.

‘Minister Crookall was able to nod vigorously at the point in the speech where I made reference to the fact that people would need to be given more time.

‘A cut-off date of April 1 was not appropriate and highly questionable.

‘In his speech, the minister did suggest that additional time would be made available to all the tenants who have yet to be contacted or who have not made a decision.

‘During a meeting on Tuesday, he also confirmed the department would be very flexible in finding solutions to assist these people, suggesting house calls were potentially an option.

‘I feel some reassurance that the minister is listening, but I will be ready to challenge that reassurance if any tenants contact me about the department’s lack of flexibility.’

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall said the department is doing all it can to work with tenants on a ‘reasonable solution’.

He said that the government currently has 1,264 tenants and of those, 206 customers are using the rent book which requires them to pay rent at their local post office.