London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202348592)

Decision
Case ID	202348592
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	11 November 2025

Background

1. The resident and a joint tenant live in a 2-bedroom flat. They rent their home under an Intermediate Market Rent (IMR) agreement aimed at emergency workers. The resident complained that the landlord had failed to update their rent direct debit. He said this meant they underpaid the rent for 8 months. He was also unhappy it had not notified them of the error.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s:
   1. response to the resident’s report about the direct debit payment.
   2. associated complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found:
   1. service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s report about the direct debit payment.
   2. no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the associated complaint. 

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

Direct debit payment

4. The resident was responsible for paying the full rent charge monthly. The resident was aware of the increased rent price from August 2023 and that it was due from September 2023. The landlord apologised for its direct debit error and offered appropriate compensation for the distress and inconvenience this caused. However, the landlord did not regularly communicate with the resident about his arrears prior to February 2024 and did not fully acknowledge this in its complaint responses.

 

Complaint handling

5. The landlord responded to the complaint in line with its policy and the timescales set out in the Complaint Handling Code (the Code).

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Apology order   The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 10 December 2025
2	Compensation order If not already paid, the landlord must pay the resident the £100 it offered him for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failure to update the direct debit charge and to notify the resident of his arrears.	No later than 10 December 2025

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our recommendations
It is recommended the landlord reoffers the 12-month payment plan to the resident.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
August 2023	The landlord and resident agreed a new tenancy agreement and rent price of £1,307.99. The landlord stated this would apply from 1 September 2023.
29 February 2024	The landlord notified the resident of arrears of £777.72. The resident disputed the arrears. He said he had always paid rent by direct debit.
1 March 2024	The landlord provided a breakdown of the rent underpayment between September 2023 to February 2024.
2 March 2024	The resident made a stage 1 complaint. He said he had agreed to rent increases in August 2023, and the landlord had then failed to implement the necessary direct debit changes. He wanted the landlord to waive the arrears.
13 March 2024	The landlord’s stage 1 response apologised for not updating the direct debit charge. It said it would not waive the arrears as the resident was notified of the new monthly rent in August 2023. It said it was the resident’s responsibility to ensure the full charges were covered. It offered £100 for any inconvenience and stress and offered a 12-month payment plan.
13 March 2024	The resident escalated his complaint. He said he was unhappy the landlord had not told him about the arrears before 29 February 2024. He said the unanticipated debt was significantly impacting his wellbeing.
22 March 2024	The landlord provided its stage 2 response. It repeated what it had said at stage 1, reoffered £100 compensation and offered a 6-month payment plan.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident contacted this Service on 26 March 2024. He was unhappy with the landlord’s response to his complaint. He said the issue was having a significant impact on his wellbeing and trust in the landlord. He wanted the landlord to accept responsibility and waive the arrears. On 3 November 2025, the resident confirmed his position remained the same.

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

Complaint	The landlord’s response to reports of problems with the direct debit payment.
Finding	Service failure

What we did not investigate

6. The resident complained about the level of a proposed rent increase. The Ombudsman may not consider complaints which concern the level of rent increase. Complaints that relate to the level, reasonableness, or liability to pay service charges are within the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). The resident may wish to seek independent legal advice in relation to how to proceed with a case if they wish.

Reports of a direct debit error

7. The tenancy agreement says the resident was responsible for paying the total monthly charge on the first day of each month by direct debit.
8. The resident and landlord signed the tenancy agreement on 21 August 2023. This stated the total monthly charge was £1307.99. The landlord told the resident this increase would start from September 2023. 
9. The resident was aware of the new rent charge from August 2023. It was the landlord’s responsibility to update the direct debit charge to the correct amount. However, according to the tenancy agreement it was the resident’s responsibility to ensure he was paying the correct amount of rent. It would have been reasonable for the resident to check this and to notify the landlord if there were any errors.
10. The landlord notified the resident of his arrears on 28 February 2024. This was not in line with its income collection policy which says it will communicate regularly with residents who have arrears.
11. The resident identified the landlord had not updated the direct debit charge amount. The landlord then checked its system and apologised for the error on 6 March 2024. The landlord recognised and rectified its mistake. It was reasonable for the landlord to offer the resident a payment plan.
12. The landlord explained the resident’s responsibility to pay the full rent charge in its stage 1 and 2 responses. It acknowledged its direct debit admin error and offered £100 to recognise the inconvenience and stress caused to the resident. It offered a 12-month payment plan to pay off the arrears. This was reasonable when assessed against the tenancy agreement.
13. However, the landlord did not explain why it had not contacted the resident about his arrears before February 2024, following its income collection policy. This was a missed opportunity to put things right.
14. The landlord’s offer of compensation recognised the resident’s distress and inconvenience and is in line with our Remedies Guidance for a failure that adversely affected the resident but caused no permanent impact. The landlord recognised its direct debit error and took steps to appropriately put things right and resolve the issue.
15. However, it did not acknowledge its failure to regularly communicate with the resident about his arrears, leading to a finding of service failure. As the landlord did not fully address this in its complaint responses, we have ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident. If not already done so, the landlord should pay the £100 compensation previously offered.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	No maladministration

16. The Code sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case is the 2024 edition. Our findings are:
    1. The landlord has a published complaints policy that meets the Code’s response times.
    2. The landlord acknowledged the stage 1 complaint and responded within its policy.
    3. The landlord acknowledged the stage 2 complaint within 8 working days. Although this was slightly outside of its timeframe, it did not impact the stage 2 response or the resident.
    4. The stage 2 complaint was answered within 20 working days, which follows the policy.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping) and communication

17. The landlord’s communication with the resident was unreasonable at times. The landlord failed to identify the resident was underpaying his rent. It also failed to tell the resident about the arrears within a timely manner. Had it done so, it may have identified the direct debit error sooner and prevented the arrears growing and the complaint being raised.