Summary: Mr X complains that the Council paid housing benefit directly to his tenant after it agreed not to do this, and then gave him incorrect email addresses to raise the issue. He says he lost £3500 in unpaid rent and has spent time and trouble chasing the Council to address the issue. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for giving Mr X incorrect email addresses. This fault caused Mr X injustice. The Council has apologised to Mr X and undertaken staff training. The Ombudsman is satisfied that this is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by the fault. The Ombudsman does not uphold the part of Mr X’s complaint about housing benefit payments to his tenant. This is because we have found no evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, complains about the way the Council dealt with housing benefit payments to his tenant. He complains that the Council:
1. paid housing benefit directly to his tenant, after it agreed it would not do this; and,
2. kept giving him incorrect email addresses for him to contact to raise this issue.
2. Mr X says he lost £3500 in unpaid rent from the tenant, and has spent time and trouble chasing the Council to address this issue.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments before I reached a final decision.
7. I have considered the relevant regulations, set out below.

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What I found

What should have happened: the law and regulations

8. Councils are responsible for administering housing benefits. The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (‘the Regulations’) say that housing benefit can be paid directly to the person claiming housing benefit (regulation 94).
9. The Regulations say that housing benefit can be paid directly to a landlord for two reasons. One of these reasons is if the tenant is in arrears of eight weeks or more, unless “it is in the overriding interest of the claimant” not to pay the landlord directly (regulation 95).
10. The Regulations say that housing benefit can be paid directly to a landlord if a tenant has requested or consented to this (regulation 96).
11. If a landlord tells a council that a tenant is in eight weeks of arrears, the council has to decide whether to make payments directly to the landlord. Until a council decides this, payments should still be made to the tenant. While a decision is being made, a council can suspend housing benefit payments.
12. As long as the Council’s original decision to pay a tenant is unchanged, and a payment is made to a tenant (despite eight weeks arrears of rent), housing benefit cannot be paid a second time around to the landlord once the payment has been made to the tenant (regulation 98).
13. Case law says only if a decision has been made to pay the landlord, but payment is then made to the tenant, does payment have to be made twice over in the event of the tenant being paid in error.
14. It is the responsibility of the tenant to pay their rent, regardless of whether they get housing benefit. Any failure to pay rent by a tenant can be remedied by private legal action against the tenant.

What happened

15. Mr X is a landlord. In January 2018, one of his tenants, T, made a claim to the Council for housing benefit. T asked that his housing benefit was paid directly to Mr X as the landlord.
16. Later in January, the Council began paying T’s housing benefit directly to Mr X.
17. At the end of January, T contacted the Council and asked that his housing benefit be paid to him instead of Mr X. The Council did this, and from February T’s housing benefit was paid directly to T.
18. In April, Mr X called the Council and asked that direct housing benefit payments to T were stopped because Mr X had not received any rent from T. The Council suspended T’s housing benefit. The Council asked Mr X to send evidence of this.
19. At the end of April, Mr X emailed the Council asking that housing benefit payments were paid to him, not T, because of T’s arrears.
20. In May, T sent the Council a copy of an email from Mr X which said there had been a mistake. So, the Council lifted the suspension on T’s housing benefit.
21. At the end of May, Mr X called the Council. The Council said T had withdrawn authorisation for the Council to discuss his housing benefit account with Mr X. The Council told Mr X to send an email with proof that T had not made any payments.
22. On 1 June, the Council got a phone call from someone saying they were T, asking that T’s housing benefit be suspended. The Council suspended T’s housing benefit on this basis.
23. On 4 June, Mr X emailed the Council. He got an automatic response which said that email address was no longer in use, and to email another address.
24. On 6 June, Mr X emailed the Council. He got the same automatic response.
25. On the same day, the Council got a call from T and his support worker. T said the person who called the Council on 1 June was not him. T asked that no further details be given to Mr X. Because of this call, the Council lifted the suspension on T’s housing benefit.
26. On 7 June, Mr X called the Council. He said the email address he had been told to use in the automatic response did not work. The Council gave him the customer services email address. Mr X sent four emails to this new address on that day.
27. The Council replied to these saying Mr X needed to contact the benefits office. It gave him the benefits office phone number and a link to an online contact form. It said the benefits office email address was no longer in use.
28. On 12 June, Mr X sent documents to the Council by recorded delivery.
29. On 14 June, T told the Council he moved out on 11 June.
30. In mid-July, T requested housing benefit again for the same property. The Council awarded this, but paid it to Mr X.
31. At the end of July, T moved out of the property.
32. In October, in response to contact from Mr X, the Council called Mr X and said it could not discuss anything to do with T’s account. It said if he wanted to complain, he could complain to the complaints department.
33. Mr X then complained to the Council. He said T’s claim for housing benefit had a condition that no housing benefit was to be paid to T. He said that T lied to him, saying he had started work so would not be entitled to housing benefit anymore. Mr X says T did this on the same day he asked the Council to pay his housing benefit directly to him, not Mr X.
34. Mr X complained that the Council began paying housing benefit directly to T without asking Mr X or asking for a rent statement.
35. Mr X complained that when he called the Council about it, saying T was in arrears of more than eight weeks, the Council said to email the benefits email address. He says he did not get a response to this.
36. Mr X said he chased this in June and was told the email address no longer worked. He said he sent an email to the new address, and sent documents by post, but got no response from the Council.
37. Mr X said T moved out in July with arrears of over £4000.
38. The Council responded in November. It said it paid housing benefit directly to Mr X initially, but then payments were made directly to T, on T’s request.
39. The Council said that at the time T requested that payments were made directly to T, T had not lived at the address for more than eight weeks, so he could not have been in arrears of eight weeks. It said it did not need to consult Mr X if there is clear evidence that a tenant would not be in arrears.
40. The Council said disputes about who should be paid housing benefit are between a landlord and tenant. The Council said it does not get involved in such disputes.
41. The Council accepted that the email inbox was no longer in use. It said he would have received an automatic response explaining this. It apologised that he was given an incorrect email address. It said all contact should now be made through the website, not by email.
42. The Council said at the time Mr X told the Council T was in arrears, T said he was not in arrears. It said because it did not receive a rent statement from Mr X confirming T was in arrears, housing benefit payments continued to be made to T.
43. The Council said when it received Mr X’s recorded delivery letter, T told the Council he had moved out so no further housing benefit payments would be made. It said when T applied again for housing benefit, it knew about the arrears, so housing benefit was paid to Mr X against T’s wishes.
44. The Council said it was right not to discuss T’s account with Mr X because T had removed permission for anyone to discuss his housing benefit account. It said under the law, it could not discuss T’s account with Mr X without T’s permission.
45. The Council said if T remained in arrears, Mr X needed to recover the arrears from T because the Council paid housing benefit correctly.
46. In late-November, Mr X asked the Council to review his complaint at stage two of the complaints process. He did not accept the Council’s response.
47. The Council sent its stage two response to Mr X in December. It explained that it paid housing benefit directly to T when he asked for it because he could not have been in eight weeks of arrears at the time.
48. The Council said it would not make duplicate payments to a landlord if a tenant has been paid housing benefit correctly. It said any issue to do with rent arrears is a civil matter between a tenant and landlord. It said it had no jurisdiction over landlord/tenant disputes. It said liability for rent arrears remains the tenant’s responsibility, regardless of housing benefit entitlement. It said Mr X can take court action to recover unpaid rent.
49. The Council apologised that it gave him an incorrect email address. It said it had been raised with the member of staff concerned as a training issue.
50. Mr X then complained to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

Housing benefit paid directly to tenant

51. Mr X complains that the Council paid housing benefit directly to his tenant, after it agreed it would not do this (part a of the complaint).
52. When T initially applied for housing benefit, he asked that it was paid directly to Mr X as his landlord. The Council did this.
53. T then asked that housing benefit was paid directly to him, not Mr X. The Council did this.
54. The Council was right to act on the wishes of T. At the time T asked that payments were made directly to him, he had been in the property for less than eight weeks, meaning he could not have been in eight weeks of arrears.
55. I do not find the Council at fault for the way it paid T’s housing benefit. There was no agreement for the Council not to pay housing benefit directly to T. The Council acted in line with the Regulations when it initially paid T’s housing benefit to Mr X, then changed it to pay T directly on his request.
56. Mr X says T told him he was working so his housing benefit would stop. At the same time, Mr X says T asked the Council to pay housing benefit directly to T. Mr X says T deliberately deceived him. This is not evidence of fault with the Council.
57. Mr X says the Council did not tell him it was changing T’s housing benefit payments from Mr X to T. The Council says it sent Mr X a letter in February saying that housing benefit payments to him as a landlord had stopped in January.
58. Ultimately, Mr X wants the Council to pay him for T’s rent arrears. The Council cannot do this because it paid T’s housing benefit correctly. This is in line with the Regulations.
59. Mr X can take private legal action to recover the unpaid debt from T. He says there is no point in him taking this action because he cannot locate T. This is not evidence of fault with the Council.

Incorrect email addresses

60. Mr X complains the Council kept giving him incorrect email addresses for him to contact to raise this issue (part b of the complaint).
61. Both of the Council’s complaint responses acknowledge that it gave Mr X incorrect email addresses and apologised to Mr X for this. The stage two response said this had been raised with the member of staff concerned as a training issue.
62. I find the Council at fault for giving Mr X incorrect email addresses for him to contact. This fault caused Mr X injustice in that he repeatedly tried to contact the Council without success. The Council has apologised and taken action to prevent future recurrences through staff training.
63. I am satisfied that the Council’s actions are a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by the fault.

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Final decision

64. I have completed my investigation and uphold part b of Mr X’s complaint. I have found fault which caused Mr X injustice. I find the Council’s actions are a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by the fault.
65. I do not uphold part a of Mr X’s complaint. This is because I find no evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman