Officers are to be introduced in a Teesside town to reduce council rent arrears.
Hartlepool Borough council staff are to adopt dedicated roles as recovery officers.
Currently officers have wide-ranging roles, tackling tenancy and management of empty homes as well as arrears. The new role was approved by the Neighbourhood Services Board after it heard the council was owed £800,000 in rent.
Councillor John Lauderdale, chairman of neighbourhood services, said: "We have set ourselves a target of reducing rent arrears to £680,000 by the end of the financial year and hopefully these more specialised roles will help to achieve that."
The system will be reviewed after Christmas.
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