Income Ally
Platform
What the product is, and what it costs
The product Overview Stay human. Stay compliant. The queue Built overnight, and it explains itself. Rules and thresholds Readable, and yours to change. The empathy agent It drafts for a person. It decides nothing. Former tenants The six-year clock, enforced not reported.
Commercial Pricing On the size of the book, not per seat. Security and data Isolation in the database, not a WHERE clause. About Who builds it, and the rules we write by.
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Roles
Arrears software is bought by a committee
Finance and leadership CFO Can you break the arrears figure down? Chief Executive The regulator’s questions, answered first.
Income and service Head of Income A worklist that says why. Income Officer Without the cases that fix themselves. CX Director Nobody chased down a channel they cannot use.
Assurance and technical Regulatory Compliance Where the law says stop, it stops. IT & Data Lead Readable rules, a human in every decision.
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Answers
Arrears and the law, answered with the statute named
Holds and the clock Chasing former tenants Six years. What restarts it, and what doesn’t. Breathing Space Contact, interest and enforcement all stop. Mental health moratorium No 60-day cap, and usually no end date.
Possession and duties Pre-Action Protocol Judged when the claim is issued. Ground 8 It does not exist against a secure tenant. The equality duty Due regard, at the time, recorded.
Reporting and benefits Tenant Satisfaction Measures Which ones an income team moves. Universal Credit payments Managed payment and deduction are not the same.
Reference Glossary Twenty-two terms, statute named. Buyer’s guide Twelve questions for any vendor, us included.
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Legal spine
Every duty, and where it stops
What it does On screen, today Eight duties wired into what it will and won’t do. Evidenced, not certified It holds the record. A court decides if it is enough.
Where it stops What it does not do Nine of them, including a gap we would rather you read. Words you won’t find “Compliant”. “Approved”. “Guaranteed”.
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Arrears and the law

What is the Pre-Action Protocol for rent arrears?

The steps you must take before issuing a possession claim.

The Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims by Social Landlords sets out what a social landlord is expected to do before issuing a possession claim for rent arrears: contact the tenant early, give them a rent statement, help with any benefit claim, try to agree affordable repayment, have regard to vulnerability, and warn them about court action.

The short version
Applies toSocial landlords bringing possession claims for rent arrears
SourcePre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims by Social Landlords, part of the Civil Procedure Rules
JudgedAt the point the claim is issued — not afterwards
If not followedThe court may adjourn, strike out or dismiss the claim, or make an order about costs
Expected before issueEarly contact, a rent statement, benefit support, an affordable repayment attempt, regard to vulnerability, and clear warning of court action

The timing is the whole point

Protocol compliance is assessed as at the moment the claim is issued. Evidence assembled afterwards — a file reconstructed for a hearing, a note written up the week before — is worth very little, because the question is what the landlord actually did before going to court.

This is why Protocol readiness is a portfolio question rather than a pre-court checklist. If you only find out which step is missing when solicitors are instructed, it is already too late to do anything but adjourn.

Where it interacts with benefits

The Protocol expects a landlord to help a tenant with an outstanding benefit claim, and it discourages issuing where a claim is outstanding and the tenant has provided what is needed, or where the tenant has made and kept to an agreed arrangement. A great deal of arrears activity is administrative timing rather than non-payment, and the Protocol treats those differently.

Vulnerability is not a separate exercise

The Protocol’s expectation that a landlord considers whether the tenant is vulnerable or has a disability runs alongside the public sector equality duty and the reasonable adjustments duty. In practice they are evidenced by the same records — which means one weak record damages the landlord’s position under all three.

What “evidenced” has to mean

A tick against a Protocol step is not evidence. What a court can be shown is a dated entry, attributable to a person, saying what was done. The useful internal question is not “have we complied” but “which specific requirement, on which specific tenancies, has no record behind it.”

In the product

What Income Ally does about it

For every current tenancy in arrears, Income Ally assembles a six-point pack — early engagement, repayment attempt, benefit support, vulnerability check, court warning, and accessible communication confirmed — each marked evidenced, partial or no record, with the dated entries behind it.

It is produced across the whole book overnight, not per account when somebody opens it, so the gap is known before anybody instructs solicitors.

Where this stops

What it does not do

Also asked

Related questions

What happens if a landlord does not follow the Pre-Action Protocol?

The court may adjourn, strike out or dismiss the claim, or make an order about costs. Because compliance is judged at the point of issue, the problem cannot be fixed by assembling evidence afterwards.

Does the Pre-Action Protocol apply to Ground 8 claims?

The Protocol applies to possession claims for rent arrears by social landlords. Using a mandatory ground does not remove the expectation that the pre-action steps were taken, and a court can still take non-compliance into account on costs.

How many steps are in the Pre-Action Protocol?

The Protocol is written as expectations rather than a numbered checklist. Income Ally evidences six: early engagement, a repayment attempt, benefit support, a vulnerability check, a court warning, and confirmation that the tenant's recorded communication needs were read.

Is a rent statement enough to show compliance?

No. A statement is one expected step. The Protocol also expects early contact, help with benefit claims, an attempt to agree affordable repayment, regard to vulnerability and a clear warning about court action.

Last reviewed 17 September 2026. General information on the law in England and Wales, not legal advice on a particular case.

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