Summary: Mr D complains that the Council failed to pay housing benefit direct to him as landlord when his tenant fell into rent arrears. The Ombudsman finds no fault on the Council’s part.

The complaint

1. Mr D complains the Council failed to pay housing benefit direct to him as landlord when his tenant fell into rent arrears.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I have considered all the information provided by Mr D, made enquiries of the Council and considered its response and the documents it provided.
5. I have written to Mr D and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

6. Housing benefit is a means tested benefit which helps people on low incomes to pay their rent. The Council manages the scheme. For tenants living in private rented properties the council usually pays the tenant.
7. Where a tenant is more than eight weeks in rent arrears and the council is aware of this it should pay the benefit direct to the landlord (Regulation 95 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006).
8. Where a tenant is less than eight weeks in arrears a council may still pay the rent arrears to the landlord if the tenant asked it to or if it is in the interests of the tenant. (Regulation 96 of the Housing benefit regulations 2006)
9. A council can suspend payment of housing benefit where this is a question about entitlement or when it might need to change a decision (The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001).

Key facts

10. Mr D is the landlord of a property. On 9 July 2018 he sent an email to the Council stating his tenant, Ms T, was in arrears of rent for “three two-weekly periods”. He then went on to say, “payments for June and July are in arrears”. The Council confirmed the claim would be suspended because of non-payment of rent.
11. On 11 July 2018 Mr D visited the Council’s offices stating Ms T was six weeks in arrears of rent. The Council explained there had to be at least eight weeks arrears before it could consider paying the housing benefit directly to him. It gave him a form to complete asked him to provide evidence of eight weeks rent arrears at the appropriate time. The Council removed the suspension on the claim because there were less than eight weeks’ arrears.
12. On 14 August 2018 Mr D visited the Council’s offices again. He advised that Ms T was now eight weeks in arrears and completed the required form for the council to pay the housing benefit to him directly. He also provided evidence of the arrears. By this time the Council had paid housing benefit to Ms T up to 20 August 2018 as payments were paid two weeks in advance.
13. On 22 August 2018 Ms T told the Council she had vacated the property on 11 August 2018. Her entitlement to housing benefit for the property ceased from the date she left the property.
14. Ms T then applied for housing benefit at her new address as a result of which an adjustment was applied to her benefit entitlement. This resulted in additional benefit being owed for the period she was living at Mr D’s property. As this occurred after Mr D notified the Council of the eight weeks rent arrears, the Council made this payment to him.
15. On 13 September 2018 the Council sent a letter to Mr D which contained incorrect information about the amount of housing benefit he would receive. The letter also disclosed Ms T’s new address.
16. Mr D visited the Council’s offices to query the information provided.
17. Mr D made a formal complaint. The Council apologised to Mr D for the incorrect information in its letter of 13 September 2018 and offered a goodwill payment of £100. During the complaint investigation, the Council identified that a further £155.14 should be paid to him.

Analysis

18. When Mr D first contacted the Council on 9 July 2018 he said Ms T was in arrears of rent for “three two-weekly periods”. He then went on to say, “payments for June and July are in arrears”. The Council appears to have taken this to mean that there were eight weeks’ rent arrears and therefore suspended the claim. As there were, in fact, only six weeks’ arrears the claim should not have been suspended.
19. Two days later Mr D visited the Council’s offices and explained Ms T was six weeks in arrears of rent. The Council correctly advised him that it could not make payments direct to him until the tenant was at least eight weeks in arrears. It then removed the suspension. The Council acted appropriately by advising Mr D to make contact again when there were eight weeks’ arrears and provide evidence of this.
20. Mr D did not do this until 14 August 2018. So, the Council could not make payments directly to him until after that date. By this time Ms T had vacated the property so no more housing benefit payments were due. Normally this would mean that no payments were made to Mr D. But the Council later identified an adjustment to be applied to Ms T’s housing benefit entitlement which resulted in additional benefit being payable for the period she was living in Mr D’s property. As this adjustment took place after 14 August 2019, the Council paid the additional money to Mr D.
21. For the reasons set out above, there are no grounds to criticise the Council for failing to pay housing benefit directly to Mr D.
22. The Council was, however, at fault in sending inaccurate information to Mr D in its letter of 13 September 2018. This raised his expectations as to how much money he would receive. The letter indicated he would receive over £1000 but he only received the amount of the underpayment (£277) and a later payment of £155.14.
23. I am satisfied the Council’s apology and payment of £100 represents a satisfactory remedy for the injustice caused by this. I do not therefore intend to pursue this issue further.
24. The Council was also at fault in disclosing confidential information in the form of Ms T’s new address to Mr D. This did not cause Mr D any injustice so I do not intend to pursue this issue.

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Final decision

25. I find the Council was not at fault in failing to pay housing benefit directly to Mr D.
26. I find the Council was at fault in sending inaccurate information to Mr D which raised his expectations. However, the Council has provided a satisfactory remedy for the injustice caused.
27. I find the Council was at fault in disclosing confidential information to Mr D but this did not cause him any injustice.
28. I have completed my investigation on the basis that I am satisfied with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman