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Case ref:201100648
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Date:March 2012
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Body:The Highland Council
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Sector:Local Government
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Outcome:Not upheld, no recommendations
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Subject:sheltered housing and community care
Summary
Mr C lives in a sheltered housing complex and is required to pay housing support charges. His complaint related to the introduction of the Supporting People Scheme in 2003 which introduced a separate charging regime for housing support. Mr C complained that because he was a tenant prior to 2003, he should have been awarded protected tenancy status and should not have had to pay separate housing support charges. He complained he had never been assessed as being liable to pay the charges and that the council had provided contradictory information about the scheme.
Our investigation found that the protected tenancy status applied to those tenants of rent pooling landlords and that it had been introduced to ensure that those tenants were not paying the additional charge in addition to rent and services charges which they already paid. As Mr C was not a tenant of a rent pooling landlord he should not have been afforded protected tenancy status. During the investigation, we were provided with evidence demonstrating that Mr C had been offered a number of assessments and that the council had offered to meet with him to explain the supporting people scheme. We, therefore, did not uphold the complaint.