South Yorkshire Housing Association Halves Rent Arrears with RentSense

South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA) has achieved a remarkable reduction in rent arrears, cutting them from over 4% to just 2%, thanks to its partnership with Mobysoft and the adoption of the RentSense platform. This dramatic improvement has not only strengthened SYHA’s financial stability but has also transformed its approach to supporting tenants, reducing evictions, and improving staff efficiency.

Faced with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, SYHA recognised the need for a proactive income collection strategy to prevent tenants from falling into financial distress. Before implementing RentSense, SYHA’s approach to arrears management was largely reactive, with small arrears cases frequently escalating due to a lack of early intervention. RentSense provided the organisation with an intelligent, data-driven solution, allowing income teams to identify arrears sooner and take preventative action.

“By preventing tenants from falling deeper into debt, RentSense helps protect their financial well-being. It also enables our team to work much more efficiently. This is borne out in our performance since using RentSense, we used to have over 4% of our rent income outstanding. Now, we’ve managed to bring this down to around 2%, which is a significant achievement.”

Darren Joyce, Income Team Leader at SYHA

Sustained Performance Improvements and Tenant Well-being

The results achieved following RentSense’s implementation have been transformational:

• Arrears Reduction: SYHA set a target of reducing arrears to 2.8% for the year ending March 2024 but surpassed expectations by achieving 2.2%. The organisation is now on track to reach 2% in 2024/25.
• Eviction Prevention: In 2023/24, SYHA recorded just three evictions, a testament to the effectiveness of early intervention enabled by RentSense.

A Partnership Built on Success

Beyond the software itself, SYHA has benefited from Mobysoft’s dedicated support and training. The wrap-around service provided by Mobysoft, including in-house Universal Credit migration training and benchmarking insights, has helped SYHA continuously refine its approach to income collection.

“When we first implemented RentSense, some of us were sceptical. Now, if we took it away, our team would be up in arms! They rely on it and value how much easier it makes their work,” added Joyce. For more information on how Mobysoft’s RentSense can support social landlords in improving arrears management and tenant well-being, visit

To discover more about how RentSense helped SYHA transform its arrears approach, read the full case study.