Partially upheld: SIPP administration failure - failure to communicate rent arrears to SIPP member complaint against Countrywide Assured plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained that Countrywide Assured plc, his SIPP administrator, failed to inform him of rent arrears on a commercial property held within his SIPP for many years, only discovering the issue in April 2025. The property is let to S Limited (head tenant), which had failed to pay full rent to Countrywide, resulting in arrears exceeding £9,000 by September 2025. Mr M argued he should have been notified earlier, that fees should be refunded for poor service, and that he suffered investment losses by being unable to transfer funds to his stock market accounts due to insufficient cash balances. The ombudsman upheld the complaint in part, finding Countrywide's failure to communicate was a service failing and that the firm has appropriately updated its processes. However, the ombudsman rejected claims for fee refunds and investment loss compensation, finding no quantifiable financial loss attributable to Countrywide and that earlier notification would not have guaranteed different outcomes. Compensation of £300 was awarded for distress and inconvenience.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman agreed that Countrywide's previous procedure was flawed and that it was reasonable to notify all SIPP members of rent arrears in connected party arrangements. However, Countrywide is not directly responsible for S Limited's failure to pay rent, and there is no guarantee that earlier notification would have prevented or significantly reduced the arrears. While Mr M suffered distress and inconvenience when he discovered the arrears, he did not suffer quantifiable financial loss because: (1) all arrears have now been cleared; (2) any investment losses relied on assumptions about what might have happened if notified earlier; (3) Mr M's investment decisions were not automatic and depended on his own actions; and (4) Countrywide continued to provide other SIPP administration services. The £300 compensation appropriately recognises the impact of the service failure.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website