Raven Housing Trust Limited (201914079)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 201914079

Raven Housing Trust Limited

12 December 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent account.
The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Background and summary of events

The resident is an assured non-shorthold tenant of a one–bedroom, warden assisted, first floor flat. The tenancy commenced in December 2013.

Policies, procedures and agreements

Tenancy agreement:

The agreement sets that the rent is payable weekly, in advance, on a Monday and is calculated on a 48-week collection year (or 49 weeks in a 53-week year).
The landlord shall provide the services for which the resident shall pay a service charge. The landlord may, after consulting the tenants affected, increase, add to, remove, reduce or vary the services provided.
Housing Benefit – the landlord will provide help and advice on claiming housing benefit. The landlord will credit the resident’s rent account with the amount of benefit when the landlord receives it.

Complaint policy states:

The landlord will try to resolve a complaint quickly within five working days under its ‘get on track’ process.
A customer can raise a formal complaint if a complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily. The landlord aims to provide a written response within 15 days of receiving the complaint.
The landlord will not normally consider a complaint if the issue giving rise to the complaint occurred more than 6 months ago.

Summary of events

The resident received an initial offer of accommodation from the landlord on 14 December 2012. She accepted the property and signed the tenancy on 21 December 2012. The resident did not move into the property until January 2013 and requested an overlap of housing benefit to allow her time to move from her existing property to the landlord’s property.
The resident was going to be claiming housing benefit, however, she was issued a rent card to cover any costs not included within her housing benefit allowance and to keep her account in credit whilst her housing benefit application was being processed.
The resident subsequently made four payments at the post office of:
1. £100 on 15 January 2013
2. £20 on 21 January 2013
3. £40 on 28 January 2013
4. £20 on 4 February 2013
On 29 January 2013, the resident received a rent statement showing her rent account was £554.68 in arrears. The rent statements advise residents that, “if you receive housing benefit, this is paid to us four weeks in arrears, and this may affect your arrears balance”.
Four weeks later, the landlord advised the resident that she had been issued with an incorrect rent card. The payments the resident had made at the post office, totalling £180, had been credited to the wrong account in error. She was advised that it would be sorted, to not worry, and was issued with the correct rent card for her account.
The resident wrote to the landlord in June 2018 raising concerns about her rent statement. The landlord responded on 11 June 2018 confirming that the weekly rent was £147.36, of which housing benefit paid £137.80, leaving £9.56 per week for the resident to pay.
A second rent statement was sent to the resident on 7 August 2019 which showed charges and payments from January 2013 until August 2019. The statement showed an adjustment payment of £180 paid onto the residents account on 4 February 2013, which had previously been credited to another account in error. The rent statement confirmed that the resident had £316.20 credit on her account at that time.
The resident wrote to this Service on 3 February 2020 and advised the following:
1. When the warden left in 2015-16, she had received a long list of arrears, even though the warden had always advised her she was in credit.
2. She paid extra onto her rent account to reduce the arrears.
3. Housing benefit payments did not add up to the landlord’s payment list and payments were missing.
4. She reminded the landlord of the £180 that was paid onto the incorrect account.
5. She had tried, without success, to resolve matters.
After this Service made contact with the landlord, it confirmed on 10 February 2020 that it had no record of a formal complaint regarding the matter, however, the landlord confirmed that it would write to the resident. The resident wrote a further letter to this Service on 9 November 2020 as she had not had any contact regarding her case.
On 14 January 2021, this Service wrote to the landlord to advise that the resident’s complaint was still outstanding. The landlord informed this Service that they were not aware of any outstanding complaint with the resident but that it would call her to discuss the matter.
On 20 January 2021 the landlord called the resident to understand her complaint. The resident was offered assurance that the missing payment of £180 had been allocated to her account. It advised that it would liaise with housing benefit to ensure all payments had been received and would let her know the outcome of the conversation. The landlord reassured the resident that they had no concerns regarding her rent account.
In an email sent the same day, the landlord advised this Service of the following:
1. It would speak with the housing benefit team and go back to the resident with further information by the end of the following week.
2. It explained the rent-free weeks and confirmed she was able to have a refund as she had a credit on the account but would need to confirm this with the housing benefit team before issuing it.
3. The resident had not mentioned missing housing benefit payments before contacting this Service and therefore had not had an opportunity to look into it.
On 1 February 2021 the landlord advised this Service that it was trying to resolve the issue locally and that at that stage had not raised it as a formal complaint as it did not believe there had been a service error.
On 26 February 2021 the landlord wrote to the resident confirming the following:
1. An investigation was conducted regarding payments allocated to an incorrect rent account in January 2013.
2. It established that when the payment card was issued to the resident, an incorrect digit was entered allocating the payments to a different tenancy number. The error was identified and a total of £180 was transferred to the resident on 5 February 2013. The resident was provided with a rent statement to show an adjustment of £180 on the week of 5 February 2013.
3. It apologised for any concerns that may have been caused and advised the resident that it had informed this Service of its explanation it had provided to her.
Following further contact from this Service to the landlord regarding an outstanding complaint, the landlord wrote to the resident on 29 December 2021, and stated:
1. That it had not heard from the resident since sending its letter in February 2021.
2. It confirmed providing the resident information relating to her rent account and offered to look at receipts relating to the payments she said had not been received by the landlord.
3. It advised that there was no service failure to log as a complaint.
The resident remained dissatisfied and after contact with this Service, the landlord wrote to the resident to confirm that her complaint had been raised at the formal stage of their policy and confirmed that the resident would receive a response by 3 February 2022.
In its formal complaint response on 27 January 2022 the landlord reiterated to the resident that:
1. It had responded to the resident’s letters and had provided reassurance on numerous occasions. It confirmed that the housing benefit matter had been resolved and that there were no discrepancies. It confirmed that the £180 had been correctly paid onto the resident’s account.
The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and the complaint was escalated. The landlord provided a final response on 9 February 2022 which stated that it had responded each time the resident made contact, providing reassurance and peace of mind. It concluded that evidence was provided to confirm there were no discrepancies on the rent account and for these reasons it would not uphold the residents complaint.

Assessment and findings

It is understandable that this situation is likely to have caused frustration and distress to the resident.
The resident was obliged to pay her rent in accordance with the terms of her tenancy agreement which stated rent would be payable in advance, for the same intervals as the periods of the tenancy, for example weekly or monthly. The resident was advised appropriately by the landlord to make payments onto her rent account, whilst her housing benefit application was processed.
The resident made payments totalling £180 in January and February 2013 which were paid onto another account, in error. The mistake was rectified by the landlord and an adjustment of £180 was made to the resident’s rent account on 5 February 2013. The landlord provided a reasonable explanation to the resident regarding the error and apologised for any distress this may have caused.
Having reviewed the rent statement provide to this Service for the years 2013 – 2017, the account was in credit at four weekly intervals, coinciding with the four weekly housing benefit payments. The rent statements issued to the resident state that “housing benefit is paid four weeks in arrears and may affect the account balance”. It is understandable that the resident would have been upset when receiving statements showing her account in arrears, however, the landlord operated within standard protocol by issuing the resident with rent statements on a regular interval.
The landlord acted appropriately by providing the resident with reassurance on numerous occasions that her rent account was in order. The landlord provided the resident with a “guide to your new look rent statement” which explained that housing benefit was paid to the landlord four weeks in arrears – so the latest payment might not show on the rent statement at the time the statement is printed.
As of April 2022, the rent statements showed a credit on the residents account of £1,066.64. A recommendation has been made with respect to the rent account below.
In light of the above it is evident that the landlord took reasonable and supportive steps to explain the rent statements and assist the resident as much as possible. In summary, there has been no maladministration by the landlord in respect of it’s handling of the resident’s rent account.

Complaint Handling

The landlord’s complaints procedure states that the landlord will not normally consider a complaint if the issue giving rise to the complaint occurred more than six months ago. In this case, the landlord did not inform the resident that it would not be dealing with the complaint through its complaint process because the issue was historical, or for any other reason. It would therefore have been appropriate for the landlord to address the residents’ concerns as a complaint at an earlier stage.
Despite this Service writing to the landlord in February 2020, and again in January 2021, the landlord failed to log a formal complaint, stating there had been ‘no service failure’. This was not appropriate, and not in line with either the landlord’s complaint policy or this Service’s Complaint Handling Code; evidence of service failure is not a prerequisite to accepting a complaint.
In February 2021 the landlord advised this Service that it was resolving the complaint locally which again was not in line with its complaint policy. The landlord’s ‘get on track’ process can be used before a formal complaint is logged but should be resolved within a five day period. The landlord failed to provide a resolution for the resident and far exceeded its five day timescale to resolve the issue. A formal complaint response was not issued until January 2022.
The evidence shows that the resident spent significant time and trouble pursuing the complaint. This unreasonably extended the timeframe of the complaint and caused inconvenience to the resident.
Whilst the landlord provided detailed complaint responses and demonstrated a proactive approach by offering the resident engagement opportunities, the landlord’s overall complaint handling failures led to a lengthy, frustrating and unsatisfactory experience for the resident. Because of this, the resident was required to correspond with both the landlord and the Ombudsman over a protracted period, delaying the resident’s route of redress.
There has been maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s complaint. The landlord failed to acknowledge or apologise for its handling of the resident’s complaint. Following this, it failed to escalate the complaint despite being advised by this Service on two occasions that the resident remained dissatisfied. This Service gave clear reasons for the residents dissatisfaction, providing earlier opportunities for the landlord to escalate the complaint. In addition, the landlord did not acknowledge its complaint handling failures in its stage one or two complaint response. By not acknowledging what went wrong, it missed an opportunity to put things right. In view of this, the landlord should offer compensation to the resident as detailed below. This takes into account the landlord’s failings but also the length of time between the resident’s attempts to escalate the complaint.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of the residents rent account.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Reasons

The landlord has acknowledged the resident’s concerns and has demonstrated that its responses were appropriate and reasonable. Whilst no service failure has been identified, the landlord acknowledged and apologised for any upset caused which the Ombudsman considers to be reasonable in this case.
Despite earlier opportunities to escalate the complaint, the landlord failed to follow its own policy, causing significant delays for the resident and prolonging her route of redress. This demonstrates a failure to follow its complaint policy and the Complaint Handling Code when handling the resident’s complaint.

Orders

Within the next four weeks the landlord is ordered to:
1. Pay the resident £150 in respect of the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures.
Within the next six weeks the landlord is ordered to:
1. Review the failings in complaint handling identified and carry out staff training on complaint handling in line with its own complaint policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. Confirmation of the detail of this training and date of delivery should be confirmed in writing to the Ombudsman.

Recommendations

The landlord should complete a check on the resident’s rent account and re-offer a refund to the resident if any credit is owed, in line with its rent policy and procedures.