Ramsey Commissioners’ housing officers say they will continue to work closely with individual tenants to ensure that rent arrears do not spiral out of control.

Extra consideration will be applied to those cases where the tenant’s ability to pay has been affected by the pandemic.

In common with other housing providers, Ramsey’s rent arrears have risen during the year.

Legislation that protected local authority tenants from facing eviction for rent arrears due to the pandemic will no longer apply after December 26.

The issue was raised at this month’s commissioners’ meeting.

Housing committee member Luke Parker gave an assurance: ’None of our tenants will be homeless this Christmas.

’As a housing authority, we go above and beyond. We think ahead and do our best to avoid rent arrears building up.’

Lead member for housing Julia Wedgwood added: ’We have a very hard working team who regularly communicate with our tenants to avoid rent arrears building up’