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Women’s Pioneer Housing Limited (202212180)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202212180

Women’s Pioneer Housing Limited

20 October 2023

 

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 management of the resident’s rent account.

Background

  1. The resident was an existing tenant of the landlord and in October 2019 she transferred to a different property within the landlord’s stock.
  2. The resident built up arrears following this move, because of this the landlord applied for Universal Credit (UC) to pay the housing costs directly to it instead of to the resident. It also asked UC to pay 3rd party deductions to it, meaning an automatic monthly contribution would be made to reduce the arrears from the resident’s benefit entitlement. UC had the incorrect arrears figure and so stopped the 3rd party deductions in November 2021 when it believed they were cleared, however, the resident was still in arrears with the landlord.
  3. The landlord recognised this in March 2022 and contacted UC to restart the 3rd party deductions. The resident was not happy with this as she believed the arrears to be cleared and she complained to the landlord.
  4. In its stage 1 response, the landlord made a compensation offer of £50. £25 as it identified it did not quickly realise the 3rd party deductions had stopped and £25 for not providing a rent statement when asked to do so. In its stage 2 response, the landlord reissued the £50 compensation offer and provided a more detailed explanation of how the arrears built. At both stages the landlord offered meetings with the resident to discuss the issues, which the resident attended. The resident was not satisfied and brought the complaint to this Service.
  5. As a resolution the resident would like the arrears to be cleared by the landlord, an increased amount of compensation, and to have a thorough explanation of how the arrears built.

Assessment and findings

  1. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only 3 principles driving effective dispute resolution:
    1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes;
    2. put things right, and;
    3. learn from outcomes.
  2. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.
  3. The landlord’s rent arrears procedure states if a resident falls into arrears its preferred option is to have the arrears paid in full, if that is not possible it will agree a repayment plan with the resident. The landlord will contact the resident as soon as reasonably possible if they fall into arrears, to discuss their financial circumstances, benefit entitlement, and arrears repayment options. The procedure states the landlord sends quarterly statements to residents.
  4. The situation arose as UC believed the arrears were lower than they were. Therefore, UC stopped the payments before the arrears had been cleared. Both the resident and landlord became aware in May 2021 that UC had the incorrect arrears figure. The landlord confirmed the correct arrears figure in an email to the resident on 14 May 2021, 6 months before the 3rd party payments stopped. As the resident was aware of this discrepancy and should have received quarterly rent statements from the landlord, it would have been prudent for her to verify with the landlord whether her arrears were cleared. After being alerted to the discrepancy the landlord should have contacted UC to ensure it had the correct arrears figure and this will form a recommendation of this report.
  5. In the stage 1 response, the landlord stated it usually restarts the 3rd party deductions immediately, so the resident does not notice any change. The landlord took 3 and a half months to recognise the 3rd party deductions had stopped and to ask for them to be reinstated. It stated this delay was caused by staff shortages. In its stage 1 response, the landlord acknowledged the delay and confirmed it should have contacted the resident because of it. The landlord offered the resident £25 for this service failure. It would have been prudent for the landlord to reassess the resident’s financial situation at this stage.
  6. The resident’s former tenancy ended on 7 October 2019. The resident was previously advised she had arrears on this account, however a housing benefit payment came in on 15 December 2019 which resulted in the account being in credit. The landlord noticed this and transferred the credit on 22 March 2022. During a conversation with the resident on 30 March 2022, the landlord reiterated that there had been arrears on the previous account rather than informing the resident there was a credit, and it had been brought over to her new account. This added to the resident’s confusion and distrust of the landlord.
  7. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s explanation of how the arrears built saying she had been given conflicting explanations each time she had queried this. The confusion was compounded because UC had a different figure to the landlord and because of the former credit on the resident’s account. The landlord should have responded to this when it happened and verified if the credit should be added to the resident’s current balance. This reinforced the resident’s confusion over the arrears figures.
  8. To remedy this, the landlord provided a copy of the rent statement to the resident and held 2 meetings with her to explain the rent account. It has also explained the arrears in a letter dated 5 August 2022 confirming what was discussed in the meeting. This Service has seen a copy of the rent statement and can see the arrears have built due to non-payment at the start of the tenancy. There was also no rent payment in August 2021 which added to the arrears total. This Service finds the landlord has acted appropriately to try to resolve the resident’s query.
  9. The resident complained about the behaviour of a staff member. The landlord has investigated this by interviewing staff and listening to recorded calls. It provided the resident with a response to the allegations. This Service finds the landlord has acted appropriately in taking this matter seriously and providing a response to the resident.
  10. The landlord acted promptly, investigating the complaint, and providing good accessibility to the resident to further discuss her complaint. It offered compensation in line with its policy and therefore this Service finds there has been reasonable redress in the landlord’s management of the resident’s rent account.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53 of the Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s management of the resident’s rent account.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord is to consider communicating with residents when 3rd party deductions cease to reassess the financial situation and investigate available options.
  2. Where there is a credit on a former rent account and it is appropriate to do so, the landlord is to ensure the money is returned to the resident or transferred to their new account and to communicate this has happened.