MORE than £1million's worth of council house rent went uncollected during the last financial year, as some furious residents deliberately witheld payments because of the crumbling state of their homes.

Newly released figures from the authority's accounts for the 2008/09 year show arrears from both current and former tenants has increased to £1,043,000, compared to £932,000 the year before.

Mum-of-one Charee Hunte, 28, has been witholding her rent for the past two months because she is "disgusted" by the crumbling interior and lack of repairs on her flat on the Ray Lodge Estate in Woodford Green.

She said: "I first moved in five years ago and the repairs still haven't be done. Three years ago enviornmental health said my flat was a hazard but nothing's been done. I think it's disgusting.

"I've got a three-year-old child and yet they expect me to live in a flat with asbestos and mould."

Ms Hunte was so fed up with her accommodation she moved out of her flat two months ago and has refused to pay the rent ever since.

She now faces a legal battle with the council.

Another council tenant, 28-year-old mum-of-two Louise Ferguson, said many were finding it tough to pay rising levels of rent amid the worsening economic situation.

She said: "I'm not surprised there's so much rent going uncollected. But it's not just the economy, there's a lot of people like me who are very unhappy with what we're getting for our money."

Redbridge Homes, the body which maintains the council's housing stock, has come under a storm of criticism recently after it failed to get a two star rating in an inspection by the Audit Commission, meaning the borough to missed out on a £39million Government grant for repairs.

Meanwhile some council leaseholders too are also witholding payments to Redbridge Homes.

Earlier this month the Guardian reported how residents on Snaresbrook's Hermitage Estate, such as leaseholder Ron Wood, were refusing to pay their "outrageous" service charges.

A spokeswoman for Redbridge Homes said: "Redbridge Homes takes a very hard line against tenants who withhold their rent.

"Anyone withholding rent, as detailed in their tenancy agreement, will face legal action, additional costs and can be evicted.

"Rent arrears in Redbridge Homes properties rose last year from £395,000 to £422,000 a rise of 7 per cent.

"In this current economic climate we are ensuring all residents receive assistance to sustain their tenancies and evictions are a last resort.

"We are currently funding Citizens Advice Bureau sessions at Redbridge Homes for our residents to help with their rent arrears and debt management.

"The former tenancy arrears are cumulative figures, these arrears are added to each year until sufficient collection attempts have been exhausted, currently about 20 per cent of former tenancy arrears are being prepared as a bad debt.

"These debts are non collectable. Former tenancy arrears are debts people have left following evictions or when they have vacated their property without giving us notice or any forwarding address.

"Whilst we make every effort to collect former tenancy arrears, people who have lost their property over the debt will go into temporary accommodation and tracing them can be difficult.

"If anyone has issues with their property we urge them to speak to us, if they are on Ray Lodge they need to speak to the Tenancy Management Organisation who manage the properties.

"If they are living in a leaseholder property they need to ask the leaseholder to discuss this with us. We will not comment on individual cases."