Miscalculated rent arrears by housing association - how to escalate

Debtdipped

Hi, I have been renting a flat in London under the Intermediate Market Rent (IMR) scheme since July 2023. I have an AST tenancy agreement which states that "the rent will increase in line with our policy on intermediate rents being an increase on 1 April each year by CPI (Consumer Price Index) plus 1% based on the figures for the previous September."

In March 2024, the housing association contacted me to increase the rent from April, as expected, however they miscalculated the rent amount as they did not take into account the IMR scheme (they had placed me on the shared ownership rate). I contacted them via telephone and email and they confirmed the rate of my new rent. I also requested an updated annual rent statement, which I never received from the housing association. A year later, in March 2025, I received a letter claiming that I have rent arrears and owe them over £2k. It was clear from the statement that they never updated my records and kept me on the miscalculated rate from April 2024 and onwards. I emailed the housing association again and they stated that they will amend and update my records, which never actually happened, as I have just received a new rent statement claiming I still owe them these funds. The housing association has also transferred to a new company last year and they have transferred over my rent arrears to this new company.

As above, I have attempted to contact them multiple times and requested an updated annual rent statement to reflect the correct rent rates each year, which has not happened. I'm now in a position to escalate - please advise what I should do? Because my email communication with the housing associations have not led to successful outcomes.

Thank you.

fullyrendered

Use their formal complaints process. A housing association should have the details on their website.

You can't take it further until you have exhausted their complaints process. If your statement above is correct it should be rectified at the first attempt.