DEBT-ridden Bolton at Home tenants who fled the area to avoid paying what they owe cost fellow residents more than £630,000 last year.

Bolton Council is employing two debt-recovery agencies in a bid to recoup the cash after writing off the sum owed by 1,382 households for accounting reasons.

Last year, the council recovered more than £60,000 in bad debts and officers say they are committed to getting the cash back, taking people to court where necessary.

Jeff Smethurst, chief housing and regeneration officer, said: "These people are depriving other Bolton at Home tenants. They abandon their properties and go to other parts of the country."

He said the cash could have been spent on services to other tenants or used to reduce the rent.

The figures were revealed in a report to the council's executive members for development and regeneration this week. Mr Smethurst said the debts were in line with expectations.

"Most of our tenants are very good payers and our arrears situation is very good compared to most other councils. The figure is not out of the ordinary," he said Mr Smethurst added that although the debt was written off for accounting purposes, the Bolton at Home income management team and debt recovery firms would continue to pursue those who owed money. "We always pursue any kind of bad debt and will never give up," he said.

Mr Smethurst said the council could take the debtors to court or come to an agreement for them to pay back arrears in instalments.

"The housing debt is probably only a small amount of their actual overall debt," he added.

Last year, Bolton at Home launched a crackdown on rent dodgers after figures for the 2005/06 financial year showed more than £800,000 had been written off in bad debts.

Leaflets were distributed to up to 400 tenants who fell into two categories - those just entering rent arrears and those who had ignored warnings and refused to pay their debts.