Shepherds Bush Housing Association Limited (202002157)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202002157

Shepherds Bush Housing Association Limited

20 January 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

This complaint is about the landlord’s decision to apply for an Alternative Payment Agreement (APA) and its response to the resident’s offer of a payment plan to clear her arrears.

Background and summary of events

The resident is an assured shorthold tenant of the landlord. The tenancy commenced on 18 September 2019. The property is a one bedroom flat.
On 29 October 2019, the landlord sent the letter advising her that her rent account was £1,019.63 in arrears.
The resident contacted the landlord on 2 April 2020 to advise that they had not paid the rent due on 31 March 2020 and offered to pay £200 per month in addition to the rent due once the pandemic situation was resolved. The Customer Services Team responded to the resident’s email the following day, advising that a case had been raised with her Senior Income Caseworker who would respond to her query within 48 hours.
On 3 April 2020, the landlord also sent the resident a letter advising that her rent account was £913.06 in arrears. The letter noted that the landlord had previously written to the resident about the amount overdue and that unless the resident contacted the landlord within the next seven days in order to make an arrangement to clear the arrears, a Notice of Seeking Possession (NOSP) would be served.
On 3 June 2020, the resident complained that the landlord had failed to respond to her offer to pay the rent plus £200 a month to clear her arrears and that the landlord had since taken action to redirect her Universal Credit (UC) payments.
On 8 June 2020, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and advised that the Income Manager would be investigating and would respond to the resident’s query within 48 hours.
On 9 June 2020, the landlord issued the resident with a Notice of Seeking Possession (NOSP). The notice explained that the rent had not been paid with the specified and/or regular frequency, as set out in the tenancy agreement, the rent arrears totalling £2,225 as of 9 June 2020, the resident’s weekly rent charge being £225.
On 23 June 2020, the resident emailed the landlord to say that she had only been in arrears for two days when she asked to set up a payment plan on April 3, that to date she had received no response to that offer and that the landlord had taken arbitrary action with regards to UC without her knowledge.
On 23 June 2020, the Income Manager responded to the resident, advising that:
1. They had assessed her rent account and the arrears were £1717.81.
2. The Income team had written to the resident on 28 October 2019, 3 April and 9 June 2020 about the arrears and that due to the level of those arrears, and in line with its policies and procedures and the rules and regulations set by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), it had requested direct payments and applied an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) for any debts on her rent account.
3. They were sorry the resident had not been able to speak to her Senior Income Caseworker and advised that in situations where residents were unable to do so, the Duty Officer would be available to take their call.
4. Advised that if the resident would like to set up a manageable rent arrears agreement, the resident would need to complete an Income and Expenditure form and they would get the Senior Income Caseworker to call at a time convenient for the resident. They also advised that the Income Team could offer referral to its Debt and Welfare team.
On 16 July 2020, the resident emailed the landlord to again challenge the landlord’s decision to apply for an APA on the basis that she had made an offer to make repayments on 3 April 2020, for which she never got a response. The Income Manager responded the same day, referring to their email of 23 June 2020. The Income Manager asked that if the resident had any points they would like to raise regarding the content of that email, to call them.
The Income Manager:
1. Confirmed that as of 16 July 2020 the resident’s rent account was £1,408.62 in arrears and that they would therefore not reverse the direct payments from UC, on the basis that the level of arrears was high and the landlord was utilising the options available to protect the resident’s tenancy.
2. Advised the resident that the NOSP was issued due to the level of arrears and that if the arrears reduced with regular payments there would be no need for the next stages in the arrears process.
3. Attached a copy of the resident’s rent statement from when her tenancy commenced in September 2019 and explained the reason for the arrears using the dates and payments detailed on that statement.
4. Said that they understood this to be a great deal of information to dissect via email and so, if the resident was happy to do so, the landlord could organise a telephone interpreter appointment so that the entries on the resident’s rent statement could be discussed at length.
5. Advised the resident that she had the opportunity to raise a complaint should she wish to.
On 24 July 2020, the suggested telephone interpreter call took place. Following the call the resident emailed the landlord to complain that she had ended the call because the landlord could not answer her questions and lied about emails and calls.
On 29 July 2020, the resident logged a formal complaint with the landlord. The resident acknowledged that she did not pay the rent on 31 March 2020 but complained that the landlord had taken steps to deduct her rent from her universal credit without advising her. The resident also complained that in April 2020 she had emailed the landlord about a payment arrangement, did not receive a response and then received a NOSP.
The landlord issued its stage on response on 12 August 2020. The landlord
1. Apologised that the resident’s Senior Income Caseworker did not contact her in April 2020.
2. Explained that in April 2020, with the impact of Covid-19, there was an increased demand on all front-of house staff members and as a result there were some delays in responding to all communications.
3. Noted that on 23 June 2020 the resident was offered help, including referral to its Debt and Welfare team.
4. Confirmed that that it had operated in line with its policy and procedure, and the rules and regulations set by the DWP and The Welfare Reform Act 2012 to request direct payments, in applying for an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA).
5. It would not be accepting the resident’s proposal of £200 plus rent towards clearing the arrears as the resident would first need to complete an income and expenditure form in order to validate that they can afford the repayments. The landlord invited the resident to send a completed income and expenditure form at their earliest opportunity detailing how they could afford to pay an extra £200 per calendar month.
On 19 August 2020, the resident sent the landlord details of her escalation request explaining that she remained dissatisfied that the landlord failed to respond to her payment instalment offer in April 2020 and that the landlord had since May 2020 deducted £983.19 from her UC without her knowledge.
On 18 September 2020, the landlord issued its final response. The landlord:
1. Again apologised that it had not responded following the resident’s email of 2 April 2020, recognising that this must have a very difficult time for her and explaining that this was a very busy time for the team and that, unfortunately, the resident’s call had also been missed.
2. Advised that at the point they applied for the APA the resident was £1,325.43 in arrears and had also been late with two previous payments. The DWP granted the request and so were satisfied that the resident’s case met the threshold required for payments to be made directly to the landlord. The landlord said that they were satisfied that they had made the correct decision and that it was the resident’s responsibility to ensure that her rent account was kept up to date.
3. Said that they appreciated that it must have been frustrating for the resident that this change happened without any advance warning and that whilst there was no statutory requirement for it to inform residents that they had made an application for this, it would generally be good practice and a courtesy to its residents to let them know that it intended to do this. The landlord said that it had asked the Income Manager to look at how it could ensure that this happen in the future and as a result a new process had been implemented that meant wherever possible it would contact residents at the point at which it was applying for an APA.
On 21 September 2020, the Income Manager emailed the resident to confirm that her rent account was £1,692.24 in arrears, to provide her a rent statement covering the past six months and, as the resident had indicated that she would like to come to some arrangement to clear those arrears, to provide a link to the Income and Expenditure form she would need to complete. The resident was also advised that if she would like help completing the form she could discuss this with her Debt and Welfare advisor.
On 9 November 2020, the Income Manager emailed the resident again as they had not received a completed Income and Expenditure form following their previous email of 21 September 2020. The Income Manager advised the resident that as of 9 November 2020 her rent account remained in arrears of £1,237.16 and invited the resident to call if she wanted to discuss this.

Assessment and findings

Relevant agreements, policies and procedures.

Section 4.2 of the tenancy agreement states that the resident must pay the gross weekly charge, detailed in the agreement, every week in advance. If the landlord agrees the weekly rent can be paid on a fortnightly or monthly basis, but must be paid in advance to prevent the account going into arrears.
The landlord’s rent arrears policy states that:
1. That early action will be taken to avoid accumulation of arrears.
2. The landlord will consider applying for a direct deduction from a tenant’s benefits where this represents a viable option to reduce arrears. When requesting direct deductions via an APA the Senior Income Case worker will adhere to the guidance set by the Department of Work and Pensions under their Tier one and two criteria.
Government guidance confirms that APAs can been triggered by information received from the claimant, their representative or their landlord. Universal Credit staff make the decision whether to award an APA taking account of numerous factors and using the government’s tier 1 and tier 2 guidance, for example if the claimant has continually underpaid their rent over a more than 2 months, and they have accrued arrears of an amount equal to or more than one month’s rent.

Assessment

The landlord’s application to the DWP for an APA.

On 2 April 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord to advise that she had not paid the rent due on 31 March 2020. The rent statements provided by the landlord shows that following the non-payment of the rent on 31 March 2020, the resident’s rent account was £913.06 in arrears, her weekly rent being £226.89. In accordance with the landlord arrears policy a rent overdue letter was sent to the resident on 3 April 2020 confirming this, asking her to make contact within the next seven days to make an arrangement to clear the arrears otherwise a NOSP would be served.
Between 31 March and 2 June 2020 the arrears on the resident’s rent account increased to £2,025 and so, as the landlord had advised in its letter of 3 April 2020, a NOSP was served.
At some point between April and June 2020, the landlord also applied to the DWP for direct deductions from the resident’s UC claim via an APA. These payments commenced on 12 June 2020. Given the level of arrears and that the resident had already been served a NOSP this was a reasonable step for the landlord to take, not only to ensure that it received the rent due but also to seek to protect the resident’s tenancy from any further legal action.
This service has not seen evidence of this application however, it must be noted that it is for the DWP to decide whether to award an APA and that its decision to do so is not within the remit of this service to consider.
In its final response the landlord recognised that whilst it may have followed its procedures, it would generally be good practice and a courtesy to its residents to let them know that it intended to apply for an APA. The landlord recognised that there could be improvement to its procedures, explaining in its final response that it had made changes that would mean that going forward it would contact residents at the point at which it was making such an application.
This was an appropriate step for the landlord to take to reassure the resident that the matter had been taken seriously and that steps had been taken to ensure that a similar situation would not happen again.
Having considered all the evidence, I am satisfied that there was no service failure by the landlord with regards to it applying for an APA. The landlord also learnt from the complaint and put reasonable steps to improve its procedure going forward.

Response to the resident’s offer of a payment plan to clear her arrears.

Whilst from June 2020 the weekly rent was being paid directly by UC, there remained a static arrear of approximately £1,000 that the resident would be required to pay.
It is clear that on 2 April 2020, the resident made an offer to repay the arrears on her account and asked for confirmation as to what the procedure would be.
The resident’s email was acknowledged the following day and the resident advised that her Senior Income Caseworker would respond to her within 48 hours, which they failed to do.
Despite further contact from the resident on 3 June 2020 regarding her offer to pay the arrears, it was not until the resident again contacted the landlord on 23 June 2020 that the Income Manager responded, the same day and almost 11 weeks after the resident’s initial email of 2 April 2020.
Given the length of the delay, it was appropriate for the Income Manager to apologise to the resident. To resolve the issue the Income Manager said that they would get the Senior Income Caseworker to call the resident to discuss setting up a rent arrears agreement and to advise that they could refer the resident to the landlord’s Debt and Welfare team if she would like them to. These were reasonable steps for the landlord to suggest in order to both seek to resolve the arrears on the resident’s rent account and potentially assist her with any other financial concerns she may have had.
However, more than three weeks later, on 16 July 2020, the resident had still not been contacted regarding her proposal to repay the arrears. Following contact from the resident the Income Manager emailed the resident to suggest that a telephone interpreter appointment be organised so that the resident’s rent statement, which had been attached to their response, could be discussed at length. This was a reasonable step for the landlord to take in order to assist the resident with regards to understanding her rent account and arrears, however, no reference was made to the payment plan suggested by the resident. By this time over three months had now passed since the resident had first put forward a proposal to pay off her arrears.
The telephone interpreter appointment call took place on 24 July 2020 but failed to address the resident’s concerns and so on 29 July 2020 the resident logged a formal complaint with the landlord.
During the complaints process the landlord again apologised to the resident for its failure to respond to her email of 2 April 2020, explained that this had been a very busy time due to Covid and recognising that this must have a very difficult time for her.
Following the landlord’s final response on 18 September 2020, the Income Manager contacted the resident to provide her with a link to the Income and Expenditure form that she would need to complete were the landlord to agree to the payment plan the resident had proposed. The landlord also advised the resident that if she needed help completing the form she could discuss this with the Debt and Welfare team.
Whilst these were all reasonable steps for the landlord to take, it was not reasonable for the resident to have waited over five months for the landlord to take any substantive action with regards to her offer of a payment plan. It has been noted that the resident did not respond to the Income Managers email of 18 September 2020. Nevertheless, given the length of time the resident had had to contact the landlord about this, the landlord’s apology alone was not sufficient to provide the resident with reasonable redress for this failure.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its decision to apply for an Alternative Payment Agreement (APA).
In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s offer of a payment plan to clear her arrears.

Reasons

Given the level of arrears and that the resident had already been served a NOSP it was reasonable for the landlord to apply to the DWP for an APA, not only to ensure that it received the rent due but also to seek to protect the resident’s tenancy from any further legal action. The landlord recognised in its final response that, whilst it was not required to do so, it would be good practice to advise residents when it was going to make such an application. The landlord then took steps to amend its procedure to ensure that this is done going forward.
The landlord took an unreasonable amount of time to respond or take any take any substantive action with regards to the resident’s email of 2 April 2020, in which she indicated that she wished to set up a payment plan to clear her arrears. The landlord acknowledged and apologised for the delay but this alone was not sufficient redress for the unnecessary distress and inconvenience to the resident.

Order

That within 28 days of the date of this determination the landlord pay the resident £100 for its acknowledged failure to respond to the resident’s email of 2 April 2020.