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Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (202120109)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202120109

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

31 August 2022


Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s queries about rent arrears on her account.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The landlord is a local authority.
  2. The landlord previously collected water rates from the resident on behalf of the water company. The resident was subsequently advised that from 30 September 2019 she would have to make payments directly to the water company.
  3. On 3 October 2019, the landlord advised that there was arrears of £13.10 on her account and explained that these were due to outstanding water rates. The resident disputed this amount.
  4. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord in December 2021. She was dissatisfied with the landlord’s explanation of the rent arrears as her rent was covered by housing benefit and she had paid her water rates separately by direct debit.
  5. In the landlord’s final response, it advised that the arrears accrued in the period between the direct debit ending, and the landlord’s final payment to the water company resulting in a shortfall of £13.10.
  6. In the resident’s complaint to this service, she advised she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response as she did not think the landlord had provided sufficient evidence for its position and she disputed that there was a lag in payments.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. It is understood that the resident’s complaint concerns the information provided about rent arrears accrued due to an outstanding water charge. It is important to note that the Ombudsman cannot assess complaints that relate to the level, reasonableness, or liability to pay rent. This is in accordance with paragraph 39(g) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme which states that the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints which “concern the level of rent or service charge or the amount of the rent or service charge increase.” As the water charges were included in the rent, we are unable to assess whether the resident is liable to pay this amount. The Ombudsman can, however, asses the landlord’s response to the resident’s queries.

The landlord’s explanation of the rent arrears

  1. The landlord’s rent income and arrears procedure states that the landlord historically collected water rates on behalf of the water company, however from 30 September 2019, these rates were collected by the water company directly and were no longer included within the resident’s rent charges. As a result, it was appropriate that the landlord wrote to the resident to advise her of this change.
  2. Following the resident raising her concerns, the landlord appropriately advised the arrears related to outstanding water rates. It reiterated this on each occasion the resident disputed that arrears were owed. In its stage one response, the landlord also appropriately provided a clear breakdown of the dates and payments to her account to demonstrate how the arrears accrued. It explained that the water rates were collected in arrears, the last collection being for the period up to 30 September 2019. Given that the direct debit finished on 9 September 2019, there was a period of 21 days in which the arrears accrued without a mechanism in place to collect payment.
  3. The landlord has noted it has since deducted the arrears from a water rebate payment it received on behalf of the resident. The remaining balance of the water rebate credit was then credited to the resident.
  4. The resident explained her position that her housing benefit covered her rent, and so it should not be possible for her to be liable for arrears. The landlord subsequently advised that the housing component of her rent was covered by the housing benefit, but that the water rates were covered by the direct debit. It reiterated the arrears were in relation to the water rates, not the housing component of the rent.
  5. In her complaint to this service, the resident has maintained that she does not consider the landlord to have sufficiently demonstrated its position is correct. As noted above, the Ombudsman is unable to make a determination as to whether the resident is liable to pay the amount, however, the Ombudsman considers that the level of the landlord’s communication has been reasonable throughout the period of the complaint. It has responded to the resident’s communications within reasonable timeframes, and provided a detailed breakdown of the relevant dates and amounts in its formal responses. It also took appropriate steps to support the resident, as prior to the arrears being cleared, it offered to assist her with a repayment plan.
  6. As the issue had been raised on several occasions and the resident indicated she remained dissatisfied with the response, it would have been helpful for the landlord to have signposted the resident to its complaints procedure so it could offer a final response on the issue and allow the resident to escalate the issue if she remained dissatisfied. However, as the resident did not formally ask to raise a complaint until December 2021 and all the information provided in the final complaint response had already been previously communicated with the resident, there was no impact on the substantive issue of the complaint.
  7. Overall, the landlord has provided clear reasons accounting for the arrears and has provided the relevant evidence to the resident and this Service. It promptly responded to the resident each time she raised additional concerns and provided consistent information. There is therefore no evidence of service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. 

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s queries about rent arrears on her account.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord provides additional staff training to ensure that staff members signpost residents to the complaint procedure if they repeatedly indicate they are dissatisfied with the landlord’s response on an issue.