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Poplar Housing And Regeneration Community Association Limited (202307090)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202307090

Poplar Housing And Regeneration Community Association Limited

21 February 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s communication on rent increases and rent arrears.
  2. The Ombudsman is also investigating the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has lived in the property as a shared owner since May 2018. It is a 3-bedroom flat.
  2. On 22 February 2023, the landlord sent the resident a letter about a rent increase.
  3. The resident complained on 20 March 2023 that the landlord had not told her about rent increases since March 2019. She said when she called to ask about the increase, the landlord passed her between departments. She said she had rent arrears because the landlord had not told her about the increases, and this was affecting the sale of her flat.
  4. In its complaint response on 5 April 2023, the landlord said it sent rent letters every year. It apologised it had not sent a letter about arrears, but said it was the resident’s responsibility to check she made the right payments. It apologised for how it dealt with the phone call and said she could pay arrears over the next 12 months.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 5 April 2023. She said she had not had a rent increase letter since 2019 and wanted to know where it said in the lease it was her responsibility to check for rent increases. She wanted to know why the sales team did not check for arrears. She said the large monthly increase would cause her hardship. She said the letter sent in March 2023 was not in the same format as the example in the lease agreement.
  6. In its final response on 5 July 2023 the landlord said it had evidence it sent out rent increase letters. It said the lease agreement made it clear it was the resident’s responsibility to make correct payments. It said it should have told the resident when her account fell into arrears, and when she started the sales process. The landlord said the format of the rent letter did “not precisely match” the example in the lease agreement but it gave details of the rent increase. It offered £100 compensation for communication failures on rent arrears and said it would set up a repayment plan.
  7. The resident brought her complaint to the Ombudsman. She said the compensation was not enough and she wanted the landlord to make changes, so it told residents about rent increases and when they were in arrears.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s communication on rent increases and rent arrears

  1. The lease agreement sets out that the leaseholder (the resident) agrees to pay rent at times and in the way described in the letting terms. The letting terms say the resident will pay rent in equal monthly instalments and rent is subject to revision under the lease schedule on rent review.
  2. The lease schedule on rent review says the landlord will periodically review the rent. Typically, it will review the rent every year. It says the rent will increase in line with rises in retail price index (RPI). The landlord will review rent on an upwards only basis. This means rent will not go down.
  3. Following the review, the lease says the landlord will send a written notice to the resident “substantially in the form set out in appendix 2”.
  4. The Ombudsman has seen records showing the resident signed a lease agreement on her flat in May 2018.
  5. The resident complained on 20 March 2023 that she had not had rent increase letters since March 2019 and because of this, she had rent arrears. She complained this affected the sale of her flat as she could not sell the flat while she had arrears. She wanted to know why the landlord’s sales team had not told her about the arrears.
  6. The landlord’s complaint response on 4 April 2023 said it had evidence it had sent letters and provided the resident with copies. When the resident escalated her complaint, she said she had not received the letters. At the centre of the complaint is a disagreement about whether the landlord sent rent increase letters. The Ombudsman is unable to decide whether the letters were sent by the landlord. However, based on the evidence, it is clear the landlord produced annual rent increase letters for the period in dispute.
  7. The lease agreement makes it clear that the landlord will review the rent each year and rent will increase in line with RPI. There is evidence the resident signed the lease agreement. It is the Ombudsman’s view, that because of this, it was reasonable for the resident to expect rent increases between 2019 and 2023, even if she did not receive letters.
  8. In its final response the landlord accepted it had missed opportunities to tell the resident about rent arrears, including when she started the sales process. It apologised it had not told her about arrears and offered £100 compensation for communication failures. It also said it would review its procedure for shared owners to ensure it got in touch when rent was in arrears. The landlord also offered what it said was a “reasonable repayment plan”.
  9. It is the Ombudsman’s view that this was reasonable redress. This is because the landlord acknowledged it could have done more to communicate with the resident about arrears, particularly when she started the sales process. However, it is the Ombudsman’s view that it was also reasonable for the resident to expect rent increases, as set out in the lease agreement, and she could have checked the situation with her rent account.
  10. The resident also complained that the rent increase letter she received in March 2023 did not match the example in the lease agreement. In its final response the landlord said it calculated rent increases using RPI but “due to the financial crisis” it had decided to limit the increase for shared owners. It said because of this, it was not able to set out the rent increase to match the example in the lease agreement. But it had said when the rent charge would change and by how much.
  11. The Ombudsman has found this was a reasonable explanation, as the letter included information about the rent increase. There was no detriment to the resident in the landlord changing the format to meet different circumstances. Because of this the Ombudsman has found there was no failure on this point of the complaint.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s customer care policy says when it receives a complaint it will send a response within 10 working days. When a resident escalates a complaint, it will send a final response within 20 working days. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
  2. Records show the resident complained she had not received rent increase letters on 16 March 2023. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 21 March and sent a response on 4 April 2023. This was a minor failure as it took the landlord 14 working days to respond.
  3. The resident escalated her complaint on 5 April 2023. She chased the landlord for a response on 21 April, 3 May, and 19 May 2023. On 26 May 2023, she contacted the Ombudsman. On 14 June 2023, the resident told the landlord she had contacted the Ombudsman, and the landlord then acknowledged the complaint escalation on the same day. It sent its final response on 5 July 2023, which was 3 months after the resident escalated her complaint.
  4. The Ombudsman has found this was a service failure, as the landlord did not follow its customer care policy. The failure to send a final response in a reasonable time caused frustration and inconvenience for the resident, who was trying to sell her property and was uncertain about the situation. She spent time chasing the landlord for a response, which caused inconvenience.
  5. In line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, the Ombudsman finds service failure when there is a minor failure. Because of this, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay the resident £100 compensation for failings in its complaint handling.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was reasonable redress by the landlord on the complaint about communication on rent increases and rent arrears.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord on complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Order

  1. The landlord must pay the resident £100 compensation for the failures on complaint handling. It must pay this within 4 weeks of the date of the report. It must pay compensation directly to the resident and not offset it against any arrears.

Recommendation

  1. The Ombudsman recommends the landlord reoffers the £100 compensation offered in its final response if it has not already paid it to the resident.