Hexagon Housing Association Limited (202319075)

A blue and grey text

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202319075

Hexagon Housing Association Limited

27 May 2025

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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. The resident’s rent account, and her concerns regarding the accuracy of the rent arrears balance.
2. The resident’s complaint.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The tenancy began in March 2021. The property is a 2 bedroom flat. At the time of the complaint the rent was £185.60 per week. The resident lives with her adult son. The landlord’s records indicate the resident has physical health problems which affect her mobility. The resident has told this Service she has mental health problems, which the landlord is aware of, but this is not indicated in the landlord’s records provided to us. The resident has not disclosed any support needs in relation to managing her rent account.
At the time of the matters complained about the resident was in receipt of Universal Credit. An alternative payment arrangement was in place whereby the housing element of this was paid directly to the landlord.
On 10 May 2023 the landlord informed the resident she had rent arrears of £1,425.89. It said it had not received any payments between 2 March 2023 and 27 April 2023. The resident said she was not aware of any problem, and asked the landlord to contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) itself regarding the gap in payments.
On 11 May 2023 the landlord told the resident it her responsibility to ensure rent payments were made, even if this was via the benefits system. It said it was unable to find out why payments were missing, but would tell DWP the rent arrears were increasing and request arrears direct payments.
On 12 May 2023 the resident told the landlord that DWP said it had made payments of £804.27 in February and March 2023. She queried the arrears figure she had been given as the landlord had told her there had been no payments for an 8 week period, but “if the rent had not been paid for two months the debt would be £1,608.54.” She therefore believed the landlord had made an error.
On 15 May 2023 the resident provided payment schedules from her Universal Credit online journal showing her housing element entitlement for the relevant months. She asked the landlord to check its banking system as DWP said it had not missed any payments.
Between 17 May 2023 and 24 May 2023 the resident corresponded with the landlord’s customer accounts manager (the manager). The resident’s key stated concerns were:
1. DWP said all housing element payments had been made, so there must be a fault with the landlord’s banking system.
2. The landlord’s customer accounts officer had been rude, untruthful and unresponsive.
3. The officer was wrong to make a claim for arrears direct payments as there was no debt owed.
4. She alleged the landlord was acting fraudulently by asking her to pay rent twice for the same period of time.
5. She wanted an explanation of why the landlord had not contacted DWP directly.
The manager said:
1. There was no evidence of fraud.
2. They would ask the finance department to check no payments had been received but not recorded.
3. They had been present when the customer accounts officer was on the phone with the resident, and witnessed them behaving appropriately.
4. The functionality of the Universal Credit landlord portal did not allow it to converse with DWP. It could email DWP with a query but this was subject to delays, so it was quicker for the resident to make contact.
On 26 June 2023 the landlord wrote to the resident informing her there were rent arrears of £1,735.22. It offered advice and support, and asked the resident to contact it to arrange payment by installments. It said it would “escalate to the next stage of its process” if the matter was not resolved.
On 29 June 2023 the resident contacted the landlord’s complaints team and complained that:
1. She had been told there were rent arrears of £1,425.89, but DWP said no payments were missing.
2. She had asked the landlord to contact DWP directly, but it did not do so.
3. The landlord had “pressurised and harassed” her to pay a debt not owed. It was wrong to apply for arrears direct payments.
The landlord provided a stage 1 response on 28 July 2023. It said:
1. Its manager had addressed the issues the resident had raised fairly in their 18 May 2023 email. It would not repeat the contents.
2. Its finance department had confirmed no payments had been miscoded.
3. Its position regarding the missing payment remained the same, and the rent account was in arrears.
4. It could not contact DWP via the landlord portal. It would contact DWP, but needed the resident to give permission for information sharing.
5. It apologised that the resident felt she had not been treated fairly and with courtesy.
There is no evidence seen that the resident gave permission for DWP to share information with the landlord.
On 26 October 2023 the landlord wrote to the resident informing her there were rent arrears of £1,054.67. It advised her to contact its money advice service. It asked her to attend a meeting with it on 6 November 2023, or return an income and expenditure form, to agree repayments. If the resident did not do so it would serve Notice of Seeking Possession.
The resident requested escalation of her complaint to stage 2 of the landlord complaints procedure on 28 July 2023. She said she did not think the stage 1 response was truthful.
The landlord provided a stage 2 response on 27 October 2023. It said:
1. It was satisfied it had responded appropriately already on 18 and 24 May 2023.
2. It had explained the limitations of the landlord portal and asked the resident to nominate and officer to speak to DWP.
3. It sympathised regarding the stressful nature of the situation, but believed it had acted in accordance with its policy, and provided advice to the resident regarding resolving the problem.
4. It remained open to reaching an agreement with the resident about clearing the arrears.
5. It invited the resident to provide evidence the stated rent arrears balance was inaccurate, or alternatively, to make arrangements to pay the debt.
On 10 November 2023 DWP agreed arrears direct payments to the landlord of £73 per month from the resident’s Universal Credit.
On 26 July 2024 the resident forwarded to the landlord a letter from DWP’s complaints resolution manager to her Member of Parliament (MP). This included a schedule of all housing elements payments made between 28 February 2023 and 15 August 2023, including the following:
1. For assessment period 25 January to 24 February 2023 – £804.27 paid direct to landlord on 28 February 2023.
2. For assessment period 25 February to 24 March 2023 – £804.27 paid direct to landlord on 25 April 2023.
3. For assessment period 25 March to 24 April 2023 – £804.27 paid direct to landlord on 23 May 2023.

Assessment and findings

Scope

Although DWP’s 26 July 2024 letter indicates a gap in payments between 28 February 2023 and 25 April 2023, this investigation will focus on the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent account, and the associated complaint. This is because the appropriate Ombudsman to investigate complaints about DWP is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) (https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint/what-we-can-and-cant-help/government-organisations-we-can-investigate/d). The resident may wish to ask her MP to refer her complaint about DWP to the PHSO.

Rent account

The landlord’s rent arrears policy said it would:
1. Remain focused on preventative action and early intervention to prevent rent arrears accruing.
2. Consider the communication needs of tenants, use a variety of contact methods, including letters, emails, telephone calls and home and/or office visits.
3. Provide welfare benefits and financial advice to tenants, and where appropriate refer residents to support services.
4. Try to work with tenants to resolve arrears resulting from a problem in claiming benefits, including verification of whether a claim has been made.
5. Where arrears resulted from “vulnerability-related issues,” it might apply for an Alternative Payment Arrangement and/or Managed Payment by DWP.
6. For tenants who are unable to repay arrears in full, but willing to engage with the landlord, it might agree a repayment plan.
The records provided by the landlord do not evidence the preventative action and early intervention required by its policy. There is no evidence provided of any contact with the resident about her rent account between 2 July 2021 and 10 May 2023. This was despite the rent statement showing the account was consistently in arrears (fluctuating between £374.16 and £1,982.70) for this entire period. This was poor management of the rent account on the part of the landlord. The resident has told this Service she was unaware there were rent arrears prior to 10 May 2023. This contributed to her confusion regarding the arrears figure given by the landlord.
The landlord’s contact with the resident on 10 May 2023 was preceded by a new customer accounts officer taking over. It was appropriate that the landlord:
1. Used a variety of contact methods to communicate with the resident, starting off with a telephone call and then following up with an email and letter.
2. Provided a rent account statement.
3. Invited the resident to let it know about her circumstances and any financial difficulties she may be experiencing.
4. Sought to understand why there had been a gap in payments.
5. Offered support, and provided information on its money advice service.
All of the landlord’s correspondence seen by this Service displayed an appropriate level of professionalism and politeness.
The landlord was correct to advise the resident she was responsible for ensuring rent was paid, even if this was via a welfare benefits claim. In the absence of any known support needs, it was reasonable for it to expect her to make to contact DWP in the first instance, to query the gap in payments. Given the level of arrears, the landlord was, strictly speaking, within its rights on 11 May 2023 to say it would request arrears direct payments from DWP. However, given the resident had only just been made aware of the arrears, it would have been more reasonable to allow time for her to contact DWP about the gap in payments, and agree a repayment plan.
Furthermore, the landlord could have better managed the resident’s expectations by clearly explaining at an early point:
1. The limited functionality of the landlord portal.
2. Why it did not intend to contact DWP directly in the first instance.
3. That it would need the resident to give consent for information sharing before it could contact DWP to get information about her claim.
That it did not do so contributed to the resident’s frustration and lack of confidence in the landlord.
The landlord also failed to respond to the resident’s 12 May 2023 query about the total arrears figure. The resident believed the landlord had made an error, as it told her there had been no payments for an 8 week period, but “if the rent had not been paid for two months the debt would be £1,608.54.” The landlord missed an opportunity to explain the rent statement, and how the rent arrears had accrued, including that there were rent arrears before the recent gap in payments. This may have contributed to the resident’s lack of trust in the landlord.
The resident’s 12 May 2023 and 15 May 2023 correspondence made clear she disputed that there had been a missed payment of Universal Credit housing element. It was appropriate that the landlord said, on 18 May 2023, that it would ask its finance team to check no additional payments had been received and miscoded. However, the landlord did not inform the resident that its finance department had confirmed no additional miscoded payments until 28 July 2023. This delay of over 2 months would have contributed to the resident’s frustration and lack of trust in the landlord. This was especially the case given that the landlord had said it would apply for arrears direct payments, sought to agree repayment by instalments and advised it would “escalate to the next stage of its process” if the matter was not resolved, prior to reassuring the resident that the rent account statement was correct.
The DWP’s 26 July 2024 letter lists all housing elements payments made between 28 February 2023 and 15 August 2023. This shows that, whilst DWP made payments for all assessment periods, 2 payments were made late, meaning that there were no payments in March or July 2023. We have compared the information from DWP to the landlord’s rent statement and find that all payments by DWP were correctly recorded by the landlord on the rent statement.
Considering the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent account, and her concerns regarding the accuracy of the rent account statement, overall:
1. There was a lack of preventative action and early intervention.
2. It did not adequately manage the resident’s expectations regarding direct contact with DWP.
3. It failed to respond to the resident’s 12 May 2023 query about the total arrears figure.
4. It took 2 months to confirm no additional payments had been received but miscoded.
5. It told the resident it would apply for arrears direct payments, sought to agree repayment by instalments and advised it would “escalate to the next stage of its process” if the matter was not resolved, prior to reassuring the resident that the rent account statement was correct.
Taken together, these failures constitute maladministration on the part of the landlord. As a result, the resident experienced frustration and distress and expended time and trouble in corresponding with the landlord and DWP. The landlord’s handling of the matter was detrimental to the landlord/tenant relationship. The landlord has been ordered to apologise, pay compensation of £300, and refer the resident for appropriate advice and support in relation to managing her rent account and benefit claim.

Complaint handling

The landlord’s complaints policy adopted the definition of a complaint from the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code): “an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.”
The policy said complaints would be acknowledged within 5 working days, and responded to at stage 1 within 10 working days. For complex matters it might extend this by a further 10 working days, and would notify the resident if an extension was required. It would respond at stage 2 within 20 working days. For complex matters it might extend this by a further 20 working days.
The resident’s 17 May 2023 email to the landlord expressed dissatisfaction about its standard of service, and actions. However, the landlord failed to log and acknowledge this as a complaint, as required by its procedure and the Code. This was unreasonable and the landlord missed an opportunity to demonstrate it took the resident’s concerns seriously.
The stage 1 response was provided 11 working days late. While the landlord contacted the resident on 6 July 2023 inform her it needed extra time, it promised a response by 26 July 2023, but did not respond until 28 July 2023. It did however apologise for the delay within the stage 1 response, which was appropriate.
It was also appropriate that the stage 1 response confirmed no payments had been miscoded, and made clear that the landlord’s position regarding the missing payment and the arrears remained the same. Given the continuing disagreement between itself and the resident, it was appropriate that the landlord agreed to make direct contact with DWP, providing the resident gave permission for information sharing. It was beyond the landlord’s control that the resident did not give permission.
However, the stage 1 response referenced the 18 May 2023 email from the customer accounts manager to the resident as part of its response to the complaint, and said it would not repeat the contents. This was unreasonable. In not providing a full and detailed response, but referring back to earlier correspondence, the landlord missed an opportunity to demonstrate an independent and impartial investigation of the resident’s complaint had taken place.
The stage 2 response was provided very late, 65 working days after the resident’s request to escalate her complaint. The landlord did not inform the resident it needed additional time to investigate the complaint, and the response was only provided after this Service had contacted the landlord on the resident’s behalf. This would have further damaged the landlord/tenant relationship and added to the resident’s lack of trust in the landlord.
It was appropriate that the landlord acknowledged the situation had been stressful for the resident and expressed sympathy, and made the landlord’s position clear. However, it again referred back to earlier correspondence in giving its response to the complaint, rather than demonstrating it had carried out an impartial review of the complaint handling at stage 1.
Considering the landlord’s complaint handling overall:
1. It did not acknowledge the resident’s 17 May 2023 correspondence as a complaint.
2. The stage 1 and stage 2 responses were late.
3. It missed opportunities to demonstrate an it had carried out an independent and impartial investigation and review of the resident’s complaint.
Taken together, these failures constitute maladministration on the part of the landlord. As a result, the resident experienced frustration and distress and expended time and trouble in corresponding with the landlord and DWP. The landlord has been ordered to apologise, and pay compensation of £100.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent account, and her concerns regarding the accuracy of the rent arrears balance.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders

Within 2 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must send the resident an up to date rent statement, and ensure rent statements are provided on a regular basis thereafter.
Within 4 weeks of the date of this report:
1. A senior officer of the landlord, having regard to the Ombudsman’s apologies guidance (https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/centre-for-learning/key-topics/our-orders/apologies-guidance/), must apologise to the resident for the impact of the maladministration in relation to both elements of the complaint.
2. The landlord must pay the resident compensation of £400, broken down as follows:
  1. £300 for the impact of its handling of the resident’s rent account, and her concerns regarding the accuracy of the rent arrears balance.
  2. £100 for complaint handling.

The landlord must pay this compensation directly to the resident and not apply it to her rent account or similar, unless the resident requests this.

Refer the resident to an appropriate advice and support service to assist with managing her rent account and benefit claim.

Within 6 weeks of the date of this report, the complaint handlers involved in this case should undertake complaint handling learning from our Centre for Learning (https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/centre-for-learning/key-topics/complaint-handling/).