Over Chargered For 5 Years. ! Help!

[love bug]

I don't know if anyone can help me, but i have lived in a Housing Association house for the last 6 years. Recently, they wrote us a letter to say they were reviewing our rent. Then we received a letter informing us that it had gone down by £40 a month.

 

Around the same time i went to a residents meeting run by the Housing Association. At this meeting it was brought to the associations attention about the decrease in rent, and why it had gone down. They replied that they had overcharged residents certain service charges on the account, such as communal cleaning even though we don't have this service. I enquired if we would receive a refund and was given no reply.

 

I have since written to the Association and requested a breakdown of services i have been charged for and for a refund of services i have been overcharged for. I have received no response so far. This was 16 days ago.

 

My question is: can i do an Access Request to ask for all my rent statements since i moved in? What do i do next in terms of taking this futher? Who do i write to?

 

 

I hope this makes sense!!

 

Thank you for any help!!

[stu007]

Hi love bug

 

You do not need to do an Access Request, now which Housing Association is this

 

Have they informed you how long this overpayment error has been going on for?

 

All you need to do is Head your next letter 'Official Complaint' and refer to your initial letter and the failure of the housing association to respond you now wish this treated a an Official Compliant only.

 

You would like to remind the housing association of it recent letter dated (Insert date) that our rent was being reduced by £40 a month with no further explanation in the letter for such a reduction.

 

At the same time the housing association held a Resident Meeting where we were informed by the housing association that the reason for the rent reduction was that the housing association had been overcharging residents by way of Service Charges on the rents with no further explanation as to how long this error has been going on nor how the housing association is going to reimburse those residents affected.

 

If the housing association has chosen that by way of reimbursing those tenants affected due to this error is to reduce their rents I must remind the housing association that a consultation should have taken place for this decision and now require details of when and where this consultation took place on this specific issue and who approved this course of action to reduce rents due to this error.

 

I also require copies of the following documents:

(When you get the documents below please check the date they were approved and the next review date)

 

1. Complaint Policy and Procedure.

2. Customer Care Standards/Charter.

3. Rent and Service Charge Policy and Procedure

4. Full Rent Statements with a complete breakdown of Service Charges from 20XX - 2013 inclusive.

5. Copy of the Board Minutes Approving the Rent reduction due to the Service Charge Error.

 

Remember you need to follow the housing associations Complaints Procedure and try to keep everything in writing and always keep copies for your records and get Proof of Posting.

Edited April 14, 2013 by stu007

[love bug]

Hi, thank you for the advice. I have written up a letter to send to the Housing Association. I would appreciate it if i could have some feedback on it before i send it.....just to make sure it all makes sense!! Thank you!! Here it is........

 

19.04.13

 

 

Official Complaint

 

Dear Places For People,

 

I am writing to you once again as my initial email regarding overcharging with regards to my rent, has been meet with no reply. As such, I would now like this to be treated as an official complaint.

Our rent has recently be decreased from £ xxx to £ xxx . As you are aware, at the residents meeting on the 22 .03 .13, we were told of an overcharging in relation to the service charges on our rent account. If due to overcharging on service charges, our rent has been decreased, I must remind the housing association that a consultation should have taken place for this decision, therefore, I now require details of when and where this consultation took place on this specific issue and I would like to know who approved this course of action to reduce the rents due to this error.

 

I also require copies of the following documents:

 

1. Complaint policy and procedure

2. Customer care standards/charter

3. Rent and service charge policy and procedure

4. Full rent statements and complete breakdown of service charges from July 2007 – 2013 inclusive

5. Copy of board minuets approving rent reduction due to the service charge error

6. Why my rent decrease of £16.29 was started from this month

 

 

 

I look forward to a speedy response

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

xxxxxxx

[45002]

I also require copies of the following documents:

 

1. Complaint policy and procedure

2. Customer care standards/charter

3. Rent and service charge policy and procedure

4. Full rent statements and complete breakdown of service charges from July 2007 – 2013 inclusive

5. Copy of board minuets approving rent reduction due to the service charge error

6. Why my rent decrease of £16.29 was started from this month

 

 

 

 

 

I wish you lucky trying to get all that out of a housing association,Personal think waist of time asking for All those documents...

 

 

You could all get together again at a residents meeting and write as a group to the HA saying you take court action via county court (or individual court action) to recover the over charge monies if HA start dragging there feet over re payments ....

Edited May 14, 2013 by 45002

[andydd]

Hi.

 

i was in similar situation, it came to my attention that I had been overpaying ground rent (a flat i own but its leasehold, so there was £75 per year ground rent).

 

I started with a polite NBA but was fobbed off and eventually started court action for overpaying ground rent of £45 per year, not a huge amount but this had been going on for 14 years or so, now normally the limitation act would only allow you to claim back 6 years, but S32 allows you to go further back in 'cases of fraud, concealment or mistake', my freeholder had already admitted a 'mistake' so I claimed 14 years plus 8% interest and got back just over a grand

 

Andy