Preventing arrears: the system that stops them before they exist

Chasing debts works (we cover it in another guide). But better than chasing well is having little to chase.

How a chronic debtor is born

Almost never out of malice: a returned payment that nobody follows up → a second month of "I'll pay it all together" → a third with too much embarrassment to ask how much it is by now → a sixth month where the figure is frightening and avoidance sets in. Debt grows in silence.

The preventive system (all automatic, or nearly)

1. Punctual, regular billing: the payment that arrives on the same day every month gets paid like the electricity bill. The one that arrives "when the chair has time" does not.
2. Immediate visibility: every owner can see their status right away. No surprise annual letters.
3. A reaction within seven days of the first missed payment: a friendly message, automatic in practice. It is not pressure: it is stopping the silence from setting in.
4. Early flexibility: by the second month, proactively offer to spread it. The bump exists; do not let it become a crater.
5. Identical treatment for everybody: arrears flourish where there is favouritism ("nobody says anything to him").

The indicator to watch

Not the total owed: the age of the oldest debt. A 30-day debt is normal management; 90 days is a warning; 180 days is a failure of the system (not of the neighbour).

The expected result

Communities with this system live with occasional arrears of 2–5% that resolve themselves — and never meet the three-year debtor. The difference is not luck with the neighbours: it is that here silence never lasts six months.