Devon council reviewing 70 eviction cases in which residents were overcharged rent

A council which charged incorrect rents on all its properties over a number of years has said it will examine 70 cases in which tenants were evicted solely or partly for arrears after being charged the wrong amount.

Mid Devon District Council announced in December that it incorrectly applied part of the historic formula used to calculate tenant’s rents. This led to rents on all of the landlord’s 3,000 properties being incorrect, with around 1,200 being overcharged.

The problem, reportedly dating back to 2002, was due to the council incorrectly averaging valuation data, meaning the base rent was wrong.

The council, which has self-referred to the Regulator of Social Housing and notified the Department for Work and Pensions, has put together a plan to model the incorrect payments, assess the impact on the Housing Revenue Account and issue refunds or compensation to tenants.

The error has initially been estimated to cost the council £1.8m to rectify, although more detailed modelling is underway.

In a new report to the council’s audit committee last week, the council also revealed it will examine around 70 cases where tenants were evicted after being charged too much where arrears were a factor.

It said: “We have identified that we hold records for approximately 70 eviction cases where rent arrears were a sole or contributory factor where there has been an historic over payment. These are historic cases that will be reviewed once the current cases and repayments have been resolved.”

The council said it is satisfied the rent overpaid amounts have not been a “material factor in any evictions” and cited several mitigations, including that the overall amounts overcharged were low and the eviction process is multi-staged, meaning residents were offered support at various stages before eviction.

However it said: “As such, each case will be reviewed against the overarching mitigation factors set out above. In the unlikely event any fall outside of these factors then they will subject to a specific legal review and any next steps agreed on a case by case basis.”

The council’s approach to these cases is due to be approved by the local authority’s cabinet tomorrow.