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Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (202326354)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202326354

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

25 June 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 handling of the resident’s rent arrears.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a 2-bed flat.
  2. The resident raised a complaint on 18 September 2023. She said the landlord was being unreasonable in its handling of her rent arrears. She said it had not taken into account her explanations about her financial situation and that a member of its staff had been intimidating towards her when talking about arrears. She also said a notice seeking possession had been served unfairly.
  3. The landlord provided the stage 1 response on 29 September 2023. It acknowledged the resident’s financial situation and provided a referral to its Welfare Support team. It explained the basis for issuing the notice seeking possession and confirmed the total amount of arrears currently owed. It found no fault with the behaviour of its staff.
  4. The resident escalated the complaint to stage 2 on 16 October 2023. She disagreed with the findings in the stage 1 response. She said there was no evidence of her agreement to a repayment plan and asked the landlord to provide evidence of this.
  5. The landlord gave its stage 2 response on 27 October 2023. It said that the payments being made by the resident were not reducing arrears and so could not be accepted. It repeated its suggestion of support from the Welfare Support team and gave examples of past financial support provided to the resident. It found no failing in the behaviour of its staff and did not uphold the complaint.
  6. The resident escalated the issue to the Service on 1 November 2023. She said she wanted an apology from the landlord and evidence of her agreement to a repayment plan.

Assessment and findings

Scope

  1. The resident said that the landlord’s handling of her arrears impacted her mental health. The Ombudsman cannot assess whether something caused an impact on the resident’s health or wellbeing. The resident could seek independent advice regarding this aspect or consider a claim through the landlord’s liability insurance or the courts. While we cannot determine impact on health, we have considered the impact of any failings by the landlord. This includes any distress and inconvenience caused to the resident. 
  2. The resident expressed dissatisfaction in relation to staff members’ conduct. The Ombudsman will not form a view on whether the members of staff did or did not conduct themselves in the manner the resident reported. Instead, it is the Ombudsman’s role to decide whether the landlord adequately investigated and responded to the complaint, and took proportionate action based on the information available to it. 

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent arrears

  1. In its Rent Income and Arrears Procedure, the landlord says it follows a process of communication which ensures frequent and meaningful contact with the tenant throughout a period of debt recovery. It says any repayment agreement must be confirmed in writing and if possible should have signed agreement from the tenant. It identifies that affordability and establishing an amount appropriate to the debt are the key factors in determining an acceptable repayment agreement.
  2. The policy also says it will make attempts to interview a tenant prior to issuing a notice of seeking possession. It must show that a plan to clear the debt has been started and then broken before issuing the notice.
  3. The landlord attempted a call to the resident on 19 June 2023 and left a message asking for the resident to call back urgently. It followed this call with an email on the same day, explaining that there had been no rent payments made for 3 months. It asked if the resident was experiencing financial difficulty and offered to have a discussion with her to help make arrangements for clearing the debt. The landlord demonstrated a proactive approach to assisting the resident with her arrears, in line with its policies.
  4. The resident informed the landlord on 20 June 2023 that she was pausing her academic studies and that as a result she would not be receiving student finance. This meant that her income was significantly reducing and now wholly reliant on universal credit (UC.) The landlord received confirmation the same day from UC that they would be contributing to housing costs.
  5. The landlord contacted the resident to discuss the impact of the change in her finances. It acknowledged the difficulty the resident was facing and said it wanted to help with her arrears. It explained that, alongside UC, there would need to be additional contribution from the resident to begin reducing her arrears. It asked how much she would be able to afford, demonstrating the values set out in its policy.
  6. It also made clear that it would be issuing a notice seeking possession due to the level of debt on the account and because the resident had not made a payment towards this for 3 months. It said it would support the resident to avoid escalation to the courts and stressed the importance of making payments as soon as possible. The landlord communicated the severity of the issue clearly and offered support throughout, demonstrating a desire to help the resident through a difficult financial situation while showing responsibility for its income.
  7. The notice seeking possession was not sent to the resident until 7 August 2023. This showed that the landlord gave adequate time for a plan for repayment to be put in place with the resident before issuing the notice, which was appropriate and showed it followed its policies.
  8. In a further email on 20 June 2023, the landlord offered a breakdown of the minimum acceptable amount that the resident could pay each month towards the shortfall in rent and the repayment of her arrears, which was £149.97. It made clear that her level of rent and service charges could not be reduced. It invited the resident to have a discussion about the figures. The landlord showed that it valued the input of the resident while remaining clear about the minimum monthly payments required.
  9. The resident attended an interview with the landlord on 21 June 2023. The landlord explained how UC contributed to her housing costs directly through an alternative payment arrangement and offered a further referral to a Welfare Adviser to confirm that she was receiving the correct entitlement in her circumstances. It confirmed the total housing costs to the resident as she requested.
  10. The landlord continued to make contact with the resident to attempt to establish a repayment plan. On 14 August 2023, it acknowledged a payment from UC and notified the resident of the remaining payment required towards her ineligible service charges. It reiterated that the resident needed to pay either £30.36 a week or £131.56 for the month towards these costs.
  11. The resident made a payment the same day of £18 and said that she had set up a weekly standing order of this amount to begin reducing the arrears. She made clear that she would not be able to increase this payment to the recommended minimum amount until her income increased. The landlord acknowledged this contribution and asked if the resident had any idea when her income may increase. It was reasonable to ask this as it needed to show a proactive intention to clear the arrears.
  12. The landlord offered the resident links to some cost of living support resources, which demonstrated that it was exploring all options for supporting the resident with increasing her income and clearing her arrears.
  13. In her stage 1 complaint on 18 September 2023, the resident said that it was not clear that an acceptable amount for repayment had been agreed by both the resident and landlord. She said a figure had been suggested to her by the landlord but that she had not agreed to this figure.
  14. In its stage 1 response, the landlord said it was reasonable to have had discussions regarding the repayment amount and referred back to previous correspondence, including the resident’s attendance at an in-person interview. It acknowledged the resident’s financial difficulties but reiterated its obligation to establish a minimum repayment towards the arrears. It repeated its offer of a referral to the Welfare Advice team. The landlord demonstrated an ongoing effort to resolve the issue for the resident in an affordable manner.
  15. Furthermore, in its stage 2 response, the landlord said that while alternative payment plans proposed by tenants would be considered where appropriate, these could only be applied where they offered realistic steps towards reducing the arrears. It said the £18 weekly payment offered by the resident was not reasonable and could not be accepted because it did not contribute towards the reduction of arrears. It said the minimum amount it could accept had been made clear to the resident in correspondence on 14 August 2023.
  16. The landlord could have provided a more clear final statement of the repayment figure it had decided on, rather than relying on email correspondence alone. A standalone document stating the repayment agreement could have been offered to the resident for her to sign, which is suggested as best practice in its policies. While there is evidence of multiple instances of correspondence where the landlord stated in writing the minimum payment figure that would be acceptable, a final document summarising the agreement would have offered the resident the clarity which she said was missing.
  17. In the landlord’s Rent Income and Arrears Policy, it says its staff must always state the seriousness of arrears and the importance of rent while having a clear understanding of the tenant’s circumstances. It says staff must acknowledge that conversation around finances can be personally sensitive for tenants.
  18. In her stage 1 and 2 complaints, the resident said that a member of the landlord’s staff was bullying her and using the threat of legal action to pursue the payment of arrears. She said the landlord lacked empathy in the way it handled her arrears and that serving a notice of seeking possession despite her financial situation reflected this.
  19. In its complaint responses, the landlord found no fault with the actions of its member of staff. In the stage 2 response on 27 October 2023, it referred to steps taken by its staff in support of the resident’s financial situation, including the offer of referral to Welfare teams throughout and the provision of a grant payment to help reduce the arrears in January 2023. It said its staff had acted fairly and with empathy.
  20. It said that starting legal proceedings was a last resort and would only be pursued where all reasonable alternatives had been exhausted. This was a fair reflection of its actions throughout the process, since it regularly told the resident that it would work to resolve the arrears before starting court proceedings. The Ombudsman has been informed that the issue was not escalated to court following the completion of the internal complaints procedure.
  21. We do not dispute the resident’s experiences or her position on the matter of staff conduct. Within the scope of this investigation, the evidence shows that the landlord appropriately investigated the actions of its staff in response. It acknowledged the challenges the resident faced and showed willingness to support her with her financial situation.
  22. In summary, the landlord demonstrated a determination to support the resident with the financial challenges she was facing while continuing its responsibility to reduce the arrears on her account and ensure ongoing rent payments. It approached the matter with professionalism and sensitivity where it was required, offering additional channels of support to the resident throughout. It could have produced a final document stating the payment agreement it required which the resident could have referred to for clarification. However, it is noted that it gave the minimum acceptable figures via email on more than one occasion. It worked hard to prevent the matter from being escalated to the courts, in line with its policies. For these reasons, a finding of no maladministration has been made.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there is no maladministration for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rent arrears.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord provides its residents with a standalone written statement of repayment agreements when an amount has been finalised.