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

How is a mental health crisis moratorium different from Breathing Space?

No 60-day cap, and usually no end date when it starts.

A mental health crisis moratorium comes from the same 2020 Regulations and carries the same protections, but it is not time-limited to 60 days. It lasts for as long as the person is receiving mental health crisis treatment, plus 30 days after that treatment ends. When it is recorded, its end date is usually unknown.

The short version
LengthAs long as crisis treatment continues, plus 30 days
CapNone. The 60-day limit applies to a standard Breathing Space, not to this
Started byEvidence from an Approved Mental Health Professional, via a debt adviser; a nominated point of contact can act for the person
Debt advice first?Not required, unlike a standard Breathing Space
ProtectionsThe same: no contact about the debt, no interest, fees or charges, no enforcement

Why the missing end date matters more than the length

A standard Breathing Space arrives with an expiry. A mental health crisis moratorium normally does not, because nobody knows on day one how long the treatment will last.

Any system that stores a hold as a date range has to decide what a blank end date means. If it treats blank as expired, the account rejoins the chase while the person is still in crisis treatment — which is both a breach of the Regulations and the worst possible case in which to make one.

The safe reading is the opposite: a moratorium with no end date is running, not finished.

It can be started without the person

A nominated point of contact can act on the individual’s behalf, and the usual requirement to receive debt advice first does not apply. So the first a landlord knows of it may be a notification about somebody who has not been in touch, and whose account looks like straightforward non-engagement.

The end is a review, not a release

When crisis treatment ends, the 30-day tail runs and then the protection stops. That is not the same as the debt becoming a normal chasable balance: the circumstances that led to a crisis moratorium are precisely the circumstances the Pre-Action Protocol and the equality duty expect a landlord to have regard to.

In the product

What Income Ally does about it

A mental health moratorium with no end date is treated as running, never as expired. The hold suppresses the account at the queue, blocks the overnight automation and makes the send button refuse.

Where a hold does have an end date, its expiry surfaces as a review rather than a release — a named person records a decision before chasing resumes. The same applies to a Debt Relief Order or bankruptcy hold, where the debt may have been discharged entirely.

Where this stops

What it does not do

Also asked

Related questions

Is there a time limit on a mental health crisis moratorium?

No. Unlike a standard Breathing Space, which lasts 60 days, a mental health crisis moratorium lasts for as long as the person receives crisis treatment, plus 30 days afterwards.

Does the tenant have to get debt advice first?

No. The requirement to receive debt advice before a moratorium applies to a standard Breathing Space. A mental health crisis moratorium can be started on evidence from an Approved Mental Health Professional, and a nominated point of contact can act for the person.

What should happen when a moratorium ends?

Protection stops 30 days after crisis treatment ends. Treating that as an automatic return to normal chasing is risky: the circumstances behind it are exactly what the Pre-Action Protocol and the public sector equality duty expect a landlord to have regard to.

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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Does Breathing Space stop rent arrears recovery?

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What does the public sector equality duty mean for rent arrears?

 Answer

What is the Pre-Action Protocol for rent arrears?

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