Looking for advice on a complex housing issue

Hi,

I would appreciate any information or advice anyone can give me regarding the issue I am currently having. It's a little bit complex so I will try and be as clear as possible, as I'd just like to understand my rights a little bit more and where I stand concerning this issue that has had a huge impact on me.

I have lived in my property for 6 years. This has been classed as a 2-bedroom property. The housing association who I rent with has been contacting me, harassing me for a number of years regarding an overdue balance on the rent account which has increased to around £5000, and they are seeking a possession of property order against me to recover the funds which I owe on the rent account.

Background to the Situation

The arrears on the rent account have been created from unpaid bedroom tax as I have what they consider to be a 2nd unoccupied bedroom. Around 9 months ago I was in conversation with my neighbour over the letters I had been receiving and found out from her that she is not subject to the same charge for a second bedroom like I am. Our properties are twin symmetrical so they're exactly the same size. Our circumstances are no different either and she has lived here just 3 weeks before me, so we have lived here roughly the same time with the same circumstances and she has never been subject to the same second bedroom tax charge as what I have.

When looking into this properly since the progression was growing on the situation due to the amount of arrears, the second apparent bedroom in question is actually under the legal size guidelines to be considered a bedroom, meaning that it's not legally a bedroom due to it being too small – they have just listed it as this. Obviously with my neighbour in the same property not being subject to the same charge, something doesn't add up and it seems highly unfair that this is happening where over the years I have been receiving deductions from my state benefits for these arrears payments on the account.

Initial Investigation

After much backwards and forwards and trying to get someone in authority to listen to my concerns and actually look into them, the housing association finally decided to look into the issue. This was only after I had made the issue public on Twitter raising concerns for unfair treatment. On that same day I raised the issue, my house was contacted by my local housing support officer within an hour of the post and by dinner time the same day they were at my property measuring up this room. I was struggling to understand why they would need to come out and measure it anyway since the circumstances being that next door does not get this charged, but I figured it would be the best chance of progression to get some insight to this.

Several weeks had passed by now and I had not heard anything from anyone. I did try and make any contact with someone requesting an update. I was either ignored or told that it was with this team and then that team and then it was being looked into by management to make a decision – basically being fed a load of old usual **** that these companies like to push you off with, leaving you waiting a considerable amount of time for something that really should have been sorted and looked into without a delay, especially since they were the ones sending me the letters for an amount of over £5000 which I was liable to pay.

Confirmation from Senior Rent Manager

After weeks of waiting for them to contact me about it, I had received an email on the 7th July from the senior rent manager. On that very email he acknowledged and apologised to me for the inconvenience caused and confirmed to me in writing that the property is in fact a 1-bedroom property and not a 2-bedroom property. I have this in his own words. He then went on to say how they would now start the declassification process of the property and he would leave this with my local housing support officer who would be updating me on the process and next steps.

Relieved and also sat with a lot of questions I knew I was not going to get answers to, weeks started to pass once again which turned into 2 months before I once again had any kind of reasonable update. Every time I did reach out I was told that these things take time and need authorising by different managers and different departments before a decision can be reached, even though I had already had confirmation from the senior rent manager. This didn't seem to matter or make a difference.

Both the housing association and the local council, of which were the main bodies involved in this, were also being very secretive, not keeping me informed and updated. I also caught them lying a number of times about little things regarding dates which they were tripping up on. Since I was the one in the middle making the calls between the 2, I was being told one thing by one of them and something different by the other. When I'd advise the one about the other, they would say they haven't spoken to them and they are waiting for the other one to reach out, only then the other would tell me something completely different again, adding to complete frustration by these bodies that are supposed to be transparent and following regulatory framework.

Understanding the True Situation

Again, weeks turned into 2 months and not getting the answers I had hoped for and being told multiple different things. I began to understand the situation a little better myself and after working things out it was somewhat clear that these arrears were not something that I owed, even though I'd been making fortnightly payments since 2021 for them from my state benefits and not realised it at the time what they were for. Because if the property is a one bedroom property as the senior rent officer confirmed it was, then that would mean that the arrears on the account aren't logically real, since they were only there as a result of the bedroom tax wrongly applied to the account.

This meant that I had been receiving a lesser amount of housing benefit than I was entitled to since the start of the tenancy, and the housing association in question had somewhat created these arrears themselves by the error of misapplication with bedroom tax where they had been sending me letters for years and forced me several years earlier into paying the amount that had been taken from my benefit for something that shouldn't have existed.

So I was now under the impression that if anything or anyone is owed anything in this situation it would be me, since the bedroom tax was wrongly applied and unfairly since my neighbour did not have it. This had reduced the amount of housing benefit entitlement I would receive from the local council which means I would have got less than I was entitled to at the time, so the arrears on the account needed to be wiped as they didn't exist and the payment that was being generated by housing benefit from recalculation was more or less the same as the amount they were seeking in the letters they had been sending to me threatening me.

Personal Hardship

Once again a number of weeks were going by, and I was becoming increasingly frustrated and angry, and with valid reason to do so. Since over the years while this had been going on and me being none the wiser at the time, I had suffered financial hardship on a number of occasions where I struggled really bad, having to sell a lot of my personal belongings over the years to Cash Converters and other things. Even though I was receiving benefits this was what I had to do to survive due to the rising cost of living crisis.

As well, throughout this when things were at peak and I was struggling financially and under a lot of stress, my mum was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, and this made things incredibly difficult for me to focus on since my mum was deteriorating rapidly. My frame of mind was not very good and I could barely think straight all the meanwhile they had been sending me letters constantly, ringing me despite knowing the circumstances and what I was going through.

And then one day they forced me into completing an income and expenditure form with them which took quite a while. I remember at the time I couldn't even think straight as to what day and time it was, let alone having to go through finances which I was already struggling with and my mum's health gradually getting worse.

Unfortunately my brave mum sadly passed away so things had not been great and I had fell into depression. This was all happening prior to me knowing about the bedroom tax situation. As at the time that this was going on I was led to believe that the arrears were caused by me as I had not looked into the issue properly at this point, and I didn't have a say in whether they could take the money from my benefits or not since they contacted the DWP and applied for this to be deducted directly from my benefit payments which I had no say in the matter. At the time I didn't really care as I just wanted to be left alone and have them off my case to stop mithering me, so I figured this would keep things quiet with them trying to pursue me. I started to understand more which was when they were seeking to get more in money from me.

Court Documents

So while I had received the email confirmation from the senior rent manager on the 7th July confirming that the property was a 1-bedroom not a 2, we were now mid-September and I still had no update about this. After being passed between the local council and the housing association, where things started to get personal since I was getting increasingly frustrated at the level of hardship I had gone through, especially through a difficult time where the housing association didn't give a care in the world about this since they just wanted money out of me for something that they had created unlawfully, and the local council was like their pet. There were numerous arguments by this point and I had lost my rag on more than one occasion now since I couldn't get any fair answers. Every time I rang I was being subject to long unfair holding times sometimes where they wouldn't answer. The calls were being diverted, no one was responding to my emails. When they would eventually answer the calls they would then hang up the phone. All sorts was happening.

By the end of late August I had received a thick pack of documents in the post. These were court documents which had been summoned against me for grounds 12 and 14 and for seeking possession order of the property I have lived in for 6 years, as well as an injunction they were seeking to get out on me for anti-social behaviour due to me ringing them up and having a number of arguments with them over the phone.

Several days later I received a knock at the door from someone from the housing association again with a thick pack of documents personally serving me them. By this point I knew exactly what was going on since they were falling back on a seeking possession order they had already sent to me over a number of years and using my frustration where I had contacted them and had a number of arguments with them, where they were using this as leverage to try and portray me as the angry tenant that has been mithering and distracting them and being a nuisance, all the meanwhile avoiding any accountability for the fact that they had misapplied bedroom tax to my rent account whilst not charging my neighbour and the room being under the legal size guidelines.

It became obvious that they were trying to evade any responsibility here and this had become a targeted scheme and campaign of unfair treatment. While they were doing this they are able to evict me from the property and silence me with an injunction so I'm unable to contact them to recover any moneys owed to me. This way it's a win-win for them since they get away with what they have done to me for 6 years and then I'm left with nothing as they have wanted.

Court Dates and Legal Representation

The court dates were set for 18th and 22nd September, 4 days apart, which seems like they are trying to move fast. Then on the 11th September I had contacted TGP as I realised that how could they be seeking to evict me on the grounds of rent arrears since the arrears on the account didn't exist.

Another highly confusing thing is that nowhere on any of the court documents does it confirm the reclassification of the property, and on all 3 copies I have received, each with a copy of my tenancy agreement included in them, it is still listed as a 2-bedroom property. Nowhere in any of the court paperwork does it mention anything of the bedroom tax issue like it hasn't existed or happened. The documents just focus on me contacting them, which they have more or less portrayed as being done for no reason causing annoyance and nuisance, which is highly concerning because the reason for my frustration and constant phone calls is due to what they have been doing and what they are trying to hide. So the fact that there is no mention of this in any of the court paperwork is somewhat concerning to me.

By this point I don't think the housing association was under the impression that I would challenge them in this situation and I don't think that they realised I would also obtain a solicitor, which was the first thing that I did.

So the court date came and was adjourned as my solicitor wanted me to undergo a psychiatric examination from a medical professional. The reason for this is because I am diagnosed BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) which affects my behaviour, reactions and how I deal with situations, especially those that cause me considerable amount of stress. The type of BPD I am diagnosed with is EUPD (Emotionally Unstable) where I have difficulty regulating my emotions and experienced increased stress and heightened emotions to the smallest of things. This has greatly impacted my adulthood since being a child. When I was diagnosed when I was 19 it merely confirmed what I had already known since this is something that has affected my quality of life since I was younger.

I have been detained a number of times under the Mental Health Act, due to self-harm concerns and where concerns for welfare have been raised over the years where I have become detached from reality due to my mental health issues. The housing association have always been fully aware of my mental health issues also since there have been times when I have been detained when they have had to know as I haven't been at the property, so they are fully aware of the full scale of things and my vulnerabilities.

I had the psychiatric evaluation which the psychiatrist confirmed my diagnoses in the report and my reactions to receiving an injunction and how I am affected by things in which your average person that has clear mental health is able to regulate normally and how this differs. I think the solicitors wanted this to confirm both my diagnosis and to assist with the injunction charge.

Payment to Clear Arrears

Around middle of September I was advised by an agent on the phone from the housing association that an amount had been applied to my account of just under £5000 clearing the arrears that were on the account, in which I think they were expecting me to be grateful or somewhat thankful and made up by this. However, I really wasn't. Why should I be? Why have they received a payment to offset the arrears, since I wanted to know the route the payment has come from? Since they wouldn't confirm this, I noticed on my council account from housing benefit that a payment of several thousand pounds, just under £5 grand, had been paid to the housing association which has been used to offset the arrears on the account.

While both companies, who by the way never contacted me to advise me of this – I had to contact them and was only told this and then this was confirmed when I noticed the payment on my online account.

What I'm now concerned with is that the arrears shouldn't have needed a payment to be cleared. They never existed so they shouldn't have needed clearing – they should have been voided. And now I have also been told by the council who has said they have now made the payment to the housing association, after lying to me, that the rent amount of the property has now changed for the last 6 years, so the payment which was recalculated from my housing benefit has levelled out anything that would have been owed to me because of the new rent difference.

I have not received any notification of the rent change since the bedroom tax reduction, nor have I received any notification that a payment has been made to the housing association. I only know this because I think the agent told me by mistake since neither of them have contacted me to advise me of a payment or new rent amount. I have only found out when querying with them.

The housing association has also said that the arrears payments that have been being deducted from my benefit since 2021 won't be being returned to me, as there was still a small amount of arrears that needed to be covered so anything from this has more or less balanced out.

Request for Advice

I'm fully aware of what they are doing is somewhat illegal and they are trying to cover up what I have uncovered in what seems to be more of a systematic issue, possibly because the way they are going about it seems so. Can anyone give any advice on what's actually owed to who here? As the main focus from the solicitors at present is the injunction where I will have chance to prepare a witness statement at a future date where I will be including everything myself and how they haven't even mentioned any of this to the courts. But I just need some confirmation that what they are actually doing is wrong and can they use a miscalculation to offset a new rent amount which I have not even received any notification for?