Council repays £330k after tenants overpaid rent

A council has repaid more than £300,000 after mistakenly charging social housing tenants the wrong rent.

A 2024 audit found Mid Devon District Council had overcharged about 1,200 tenants and undercharged another 1,600 due to a rent calculator error.

Council officers said refunds had so far been made to 402 tenants with a total value of £330,210.

Mid Devon has relied on legal advice to state it would refund six years' worth of over-payments, even though the issue dates back to 2002, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council said it would not claim back money from tenants who underpaid their rent and said it is communicating with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to find a solution for those who paid rent through their benefits.

The council said it would continue to communicate with all applicable tenants to make sure they "are fully aware of their position and the steps being taken".

Those who paid their rent through Universal Credit must be dealt with by the DWP rather than the council.

The council's finance chief, Andrew Jarrett, said efforts were being made to find out from the DWP how it wanted to deal with the situation.

"They still can't confirm when they are going to let us know," he told the authority's cabinet.

"Clearly the financial provision we made for this issue nearly two years ago still includes the fact we may have to repay those monies to the DWP, so it will be one area of the public sector sending money to another but it will be a cost to this council but we have made a provision for it."

He added the council had dealt "with all the refunds in its own gift".

The £330,210 paid to tenants included a total of £13,775 in compensation, which some tenants have sought, along with cases where housing benefit has been corrected and the remaining balance refunded.

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