Ongo Housing for Local Council Rented property - Disgusting Facebook derived threats/use & con to force money out of vulnerable renter

[mandylindsay7580]

 

Advice needed!

 

almost 2 years ago I moved to Canada, I left behind a property that I rented from the local council, this is run by an outside company.

 

Due to covid I had to return to the U.K. I have ignored all correspondence from the council and now I owe 10k, before you jump on me...I have a payment plan in place now. Prior to this, I had no contact with them, till today.

 

At 12:15 today a woman messaged me on Facebook enquiring about a unit I have for sale, at 12.22, I gave her my address to come and collect it. At 12.48 the housing people were at my house. When I asked them how they got my address they said equifax? So we had a meeting and sorted everything out.

 

Due to my fybro medication, I wasn’t thinking straight...I went to message the woman to see if she was coming to collect the unit and she had blocked me.

 

Now after doing some checks, it turns out the woman who wanted to buy the unit, had no intention of buying it and actually works for the housing company who turned up at my house, they deceived me into giving them my address.

 

They have been all over my Facebook, taken screen shots in the past and sent them to me and now they have deceived me into giving them my address...surely there are laws that prevent this?

 

I’ve no problems paying the money but I’m so upset that they went about all this the way they have.

Some advice would be great please, this has done my anxiety and depression no favours.

 

Thank you!

[dx100uk]

why did the housing company want to come to you and what about?

if you owe the council? you say £10k, what has this got to do with the HA? 

it's being paid is it not?

 

what did they say at the meeting ?

 

[mandylindsay7580]

The local housing here is run by a company called Ongo Housing, none of it is done by the local council any more.

 

I wasn’t paying any money back until today, when they turned up I was kind of cornered and told I had to pay a certain amount every month and they even had me set up the direct debit while they watched. 

I told them that I was seeking advice from StepChange, but they didn’t say anything about that.

 

I’m not really good at dealing with this stuff and my husband was at work. My main concern now is how they obtained my address, how can such a company go to that low of a level to get my address.

 

I’m so upset on being deceived in this way. They also told me that if I didn’t set the payment arrangement up they would gain a county court judgement tomorrow.

[dx100uk]

that is harassment and illegal.

they are not BAILIFFS they have ZERO powers let alone to enter your home nor just turn up at your doorstep and threaten you nor demand money

 

you need to get in touch with the council and start shouting very loudly about all this.

 

our expert stu will be along in the early hours to advise you the best method to hit home hard about this

pers i'd cancel that DD with your bank now as you said earlier this was already sorted and being paid? or it that the CTAX owed to the council you were on about?

 

[dx100uk]

can i just confirm you are NOT living at the property you rent from the council and Ongo Housing have turned up where you are living at present?

 

[mandylindsay7580]

I can confirm that I do NOT live in the council property and that we now rent private since returning from Canada.

 

The payment plan only started today, I emailed them this morning offering a payment plan and then they just turned up this afternoon, they never even replied to my email.

 

I actually felt slightly bullied over the whole thing, I’m upset that they deceived me in to giving my address out and then they turned up on private property after I emailed them this morning and also, I forgot to mention they told me that they went to my 74 year old mothers house prior to deceiving me on Facebook!

[dx100uk]

that is totally illegal and you need to expose this and hold the council whom you rent from totally responsible for these sharks actions.

it doesn't matter that you've ignored the council to date.

 

 

Ongo Housing need exposing totally to their masters the council you rent from. they are totally powerless, that's what the courts are there fore not Ongo Housing to act like fake  bailiffs. 

 

CEO council complaint me thinks 

 

let stu007 advise please he should be around soon.

 

name the council too please

 

[mandylindsay7580]

Thank you for the advice, I’m going to contact a solicitor tomorrow and seek legal advice...last year the collections department received an award for their work...I wonder how many people they have done this too!

[dx100uk]

no need dont waste money await help.

 

[mandylindsay7580]

Ok, thank you so much! I can’t even sleep tonight because of it all.

[dx100uk]

just type no need to hit quote

stu007 has his own issues and sometimes is rather busy.

but please wait ...

 

if you wish to scan up everything you have after suitable redacting things as a jpg then to one mass multipage PDF it might help.

read our upload guide carefully please.

 

this should inc all council stuff all the threats of the facebook stuff etc etc.

 

from my limited knowledge... they are in for a big hiding

[stu007]

Hi

 

Firstly please stay calm I know all this must have been a shock to you with what they have done and I can assure you we are here to help you through this.

 

So what we have here is probably ex Council Housing that is now run by Ongo Housing or the Council have contract it out to be Managed and run by Ongo Housing.

 

So it is Ongo Housing that is your Landlord.

 

Questions time:

1. What type of Tenancy Agreement did you have?

 

2. This is important before you move to Canada did you handover your property giving the required notice as per your Tenancy Agreement and have confirmation from Ongo Housing?

 

3. Were you in any Rent Arrears before you handed over the property/moved to Canada or was your rent fully up to date?

 

 

Right now to the nitty gritty, what they have done turnig up on your doorstep of your private rented property was illegaly and they have no authority to do that and in fact were Tresspassing on your property and you could have called the police to remove them.

 

Those Housing Association people had no authority what so ever to knock or even enter your property as they are not Court Bailiffs.

I hope you have taken screenshots of everything from Facebook with this Ongoindividual claiming to be a private individual wanting to purchase that item on the pretence of getting your actual address. Please tell me you have?

 

 

How this debt has reached almost £10k astounds me as their checks if the property was even abandoned they would have a procedure in place which they need to claim the property back via the courts with if you did abandon the property (and I am not suggesting that just a scenario) if done properly they woulkd be granted it by the court and then rented back out that property but for it to take over 2 years I find have to believe.

 

What you need to do is start gather all your evidence from those facebook screenshots etc and to keep a good paper trail of everything.

 

1. Report this individual (with the screenshots claiming to be the buyer of that item but was acutally Ongo employee for Harassment and deception to the Police even if they don't want to deal with it you want a Police reference number.

 

2. Get a Subject Access request into Ongo Housing asking for 'ALL DATA' (that little phrase covers whatever format they hold it in whether it be written, email, phone calls etc. they then have 30 Calender Days to respond (note that time limit only starts once they have acknowledged your SAR and are not asking for ID to prove you ar the actual recipient which they are allowed to do)

 

3. Title your letter FORMAL COMPLAINT

 

Dear Sir/Madam 

 

On XX/XX/20XX I was approched on Facebook (attach the screenshots) by a supposed private individual except this individual was actually Employed by Ongo (unknown to me at the time) after further research to obtain my Private Residential Address.

 

Your Employees then turned up at my Private Residential Address on XX/XX/20XX acting in a manner as if the were Court Bailiffs and I was harassed by your staff into making a Payment Plan without any evidence that they had the powers to be on my property which is Harassment/Deception and Tresspass.

 

I now require the following:

 

Staff Code of Conduct Policy (not the leaflet)
Customer Care Charter/Policy (not the leaflet)
Tenancy Agreement signed by myself
Void Property Policy (not the leaflet)
Rent Arrears Policy (not the leaflet)
The exact date the Property was re let to another Tenant
Data protection Policy (not the leaflet)
Privacy Policy (not the leaflet)
Complaints Policy (not the leaflet)
Debt Collection Policy (not the leaflet)

Rent Statement from XX/XX/20XX to date

 

 

(note once you get these polices from then just think of your situation and do take your time to read them and just think to yourself 'DID THEY DO THAT' as you read them and if not make it of highlight it with a marker, you are then building evidence that they have not followed there own policies to hit back at them. You will need to take your time reading them not all at once over some days, read them mark them put it away for another day then have another read there will always be something you have missed or is not relevant that you marked so take your time)

 

Amend the letter as required and even be personal in it is needed as to how you felt being bullied by there staff and the underhanded tactics they used

 

You need to know there policies to challenge them on this and there action to date

 

For reference the Chief Executive of Ongo Housing is Steve Hepworth

 

Some polices are at this link but not all (they are an automatic PDF download from theirwebsite:

https://www.ongo.co.uk/your-home/i-am-a-tenant/housing-policies/

[mandylindsay7580]

Thank you so much for your advice, it’s a lot for me to take in so I’m going to have my husband go over it all for me. I used to be a nurse till anxiety and depression hit me, now I struggle with cooking instructions. Thankfully it’s the weekend so my husband and I can sit down and do the letter you have mentioned and get that sent off.

 

My husband was disgusted with what they did and has told me he won’t stop until action has been taken on those responsible.

 

I have all the screen shots of everything, including screenshots of the ‘buyer’ having friend connections with managers at Ongo and so on. My husband sent a blank email using the name and format for the woman who enquired about buying from me and it didn’t bounce back.

 

Would you like me to send you the things they have sent me over the last year, this time last year they told me they were taking the house back as I abandoned it, this was good so I didn’t respond and was just going to allow them to do that as I was in Canada. Yet a year later and they still hadn’t and we’re charging me rent the whole time.

 

mandy

[dx100uk]

you also need to answer questions 1-3 

 

dx

 

[mandylindsay7580]

I have done the letter, would it be possible for me to send it and make sure its ok? I don't want to post it as it has my address on it.

 

Mandy

[dx100uk]

simply copy and paste the text here minus your pers details

 

dx

 

[mandylindsay7580]

Ok, I’ve sent it and I got this response.

 

 

I wanted to send it straight to him so he was aware of the situation, Im sure these things can be hidden and brushed under the carpet

[dx100uk]

oh no they cant...

did you get an sar running to them?

 

dx

[mandylindsay7580]

I don’t understand what you mean?

[honeybee13]

You need to send a Subject Access Request, SAR, to these people. Click on the words for a link to go to a different page.

 

HB

[mandylindsay7580]

I sent this?

 

 

Formal complaint 1.pdf

 

Oh I get you, thanks dx100 I just found your template and i have emailed it, but ill send them a hard copy on Monday.

sars1.pdf

 

I have received this from the person who is dealing with the complaint.

 

Good Afternoon

 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

 

Given the seriousness of the complaint I thought I would send you my contact details ahead of next week.

 

I note you haven’t provided a contact number on the complaint however we do have one ending in 7323 on the account, could you please confirm you are happy with me phone you on this number at some point, early next week to discuss this further - all of our calls are recorded. If you are not I will email you on my return back into the office on Tuesday 4^th May 2021.  We will discuss the various policies you have requested and your previous tenancy dates however, it is unlikely I will be able to provide you with the dates the new tenant moved in as this personal information is relevant to them, and not to this complaint.

 

It would also help with our investigation to be kept informed of any Police action, as this may take precedent should they believe a criminal act has been committed.

 

Kind Regards

 

I have refused the phone calls and told them only email or postal, I need to keep a paper trail of all this and I'm honestly no good with dealing with it all, at least with emails my husband can help me.

 

Mandy

[BazzaS]

The date the mew tenant moved in:

a) isn’t personal identifiable information for the new tenant, and

b) is relevant unless they are claiming outstanding rent only until a date prior to when the new tenant moved in.

 

Ask again, pointing this out, and if their reply is again evasive: “please tell me the date for which you are claiming rent until, and then confirm that the new tenant moved in subsequent to that date”.

[mandylindsay7580]

Just got this email from the police.

 

 

Good Afternoon,

 

Thank you for contacting Lincolnshire Police

 

In the circumstances you’ve outlined on your Online Crime Report, this would not amount to a criminal offence. So would not be something that Police could progress.

 

We would however advise making a complaint to the company about their staff and also to Trading Standards who police businesses

 

Regards

[stu007]

Hi

 

I have to agree with BazzaS on the date the new tenant moved in as they are correct this is NOT personal identifiable information as you are not asking for the new tenants name you are only asking that date to which a new tenancy agreement was started in fact I would respond to them on that. (see below)

 

 

Further to my request for 'The exact date the Property was re let to another Tenant' you responded with 'it is unlikely I will be able to provide you with the dates the new tenant moved in as this personal information is relevant to them, and not to this complaint' 

 

I disagree with this part of your response as I have NOT asked for any Personal Identifiable DATA I have only asked for a specific date.

 

Again I require 'the exact date the Property was re let to another Tenant'.

 

If you fail to comply with this specific part of my request I require full clarification as to your reason for refusal with the exact articles from the Data Protection Act and General Data Protection Regulations that you are relying on.

 

I also require the Name of your Data Protection Compliance Officer and contact details.

 

I note you mentioned discussing the Policies I have requested, I am afraid there is nothing to discuss as I have requested and am entitled to copies of these as requested in my Formal Complaint. If you refuse this request I require full clarification for your refusal.

 

 

Send off the above to the individual that responded to you in your post#21 who does not seem to have a clue on data compliance

 

Also there is not a thing to discuss with this individual on the policies you requested 

 

 

 

 

[mandylindsay7580]

Ok its sent, thank you so much for your help...I feel really nervous about it all, which is I know is my anxiety...I have a feeling that this is going to go on for a very long time!

 

Mandy