Four lucky households have bagged themselves a reward in an annual rent draw held by social landlord Barnet Homes.

The four lucky winners have each received a cheque for £250 after their names were drawn from a pool of tenants whose rent accounts were up to date at the end of Barnet Homes’ financial year.

The draw, designed to encourage tenants to start the new rent year from April with a clear account, is held every year from 22 March to 31 March. Those with no arrears during this period are automatically entered into the prize draw.

This year Robert and Jacqueline Shepherd of New Southgate and Christine Ghani of Mill Hill are among the winners.

Christine said: “Winning this cheque means an awful lot to me. I’ve been a tenant for 34 years and I don’t have a lot of extras. This means I can treat myself in time for my sixtieth birthday next week.”

Robert Shepherd added: “I think it always pays to keep on top of your bills, however hard that might be. They never go away and that way they don’t mount up and cause you worry. It’s certainly paid off for me today winning this cheque! I’m looking forward to spending it on my home.

“My advice to anyone in difficulty is to phone Barnet Homes, so they can help.”

The draw is one of several measures Barnet Homes uses to maintain its reputation as one of the top performing social landlords in London at collecting rent.

These include:

  • A separate prize draw for tenants choosing to pay by direct debit
  • Offering support to new tenants who are more likely to fall into arrears
  • Making sensible arrangements to help tenants clear their arrears
  • Encouraging residents to take up third party deductions (where rent payments are deducted from benefit payments and paid direct to Barnet Council)
  • Referring people to independent financial advice where appropriate.

Barnet Homes Chief Executive, Tracey Lees, said: “In this difficult economic climate money is tight for many of our tenants and we hope the draw provides an incentive to keep up to date with payments. We rely on the rent we collect to provide good quality services for our residents.

“I’d strongly encourage anyone who is having difficulties in paying their bills to get in touch with us and we will do whatever we can to help them.

“We want to make sure our residents are aware of all the support we can offer and have been running our “Feeling the Squeeze?” campaign to highlight this since the start of the financial crisis. It includes employment days, work clubs, free training, apprenticeship schemes and work experience for residents.”