Hi – thanks so much for your detailed response. We have very clear and very well managed processes in place to deal with debt which may start to build up with current residents. That works OK – and we agree repayment plans etc.
Every situation is different of course but one of our examples was a resident who went eventually (from assessment unit) into long-term care, but due to no official next of kin – and no contact with the resident, their housing benefit then stopped, and the flat was not cleared and handed over for several weeks, building up WMC debt.
I take your point about difficulty with POA – and this is such a sensitive subject that mostly people don’t want to touch it with a barge pole.
As a charity which exists to use its funds to provide housing, we have a duty to try to recover debt where we can. We’ll continue looking into any insurance which may exist to cover this situation (for residential landlords there are many options around this of course).
But if anyone has other experience, would be good to hear. Thanks again.