RENT dodgers have cost taxpayers in a North-East town more than £170,000.

Housing chiefs have been forced to write off the huge bill because they cannot get bad debtors to pay up.

Members of Middlesbrough Borough Council's cabinet took the decision after relentlessly pursuing the debtors.

A minimum of four letters were sent and visits made to each one, with officers suggesting arrangements for minimal payments. The debts were also pursued through the courts and, where addresses were unknown, traces carried out.

Only when all traces failed and after two years were the debts considered irrecoverable.

Losses will be met by the Housing Provision for Doubtful Debt Account.