The information below relates to complaints regarding our function as a landlord. For information regarding other service areas please return to the complaints information page.
For further information on complaints regarding your council property you can access our downloads page.
Examples of the types of complaints that would be looked at under this process include -
- repairs to your Council home
- leasehold services
- moving to a Council owned property including exchanges and decants
- rent and service charges
- occupancy rights
- disability adaptations
- tenant behaviour
- grounds maintenance including communal areas
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Any other type of complaint relating to housing may be looked at under the corporate complaints process instead. We will clearly state which process your housing complaint will follow shorty after receipt. The complaints section below provides further information.
If you wish to submit your feedback anonymously, it will be recorded as a suggestion. No response can be provided if you have not provided any contact details.
The housing landlord complaints process
Our landlord complaints process is compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (April 2024). This document gives extended information about the landlord complaints process.
Information about the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) and the Complaint Handling Code is available at Housing Ombudsman Service. The Housing Ombudsman Service can be contacted at any time for help and advice.
We will accept complaints made by a third-party representative. This includes Members of Parliament and local Councillors. We may need to obtain a signed authorisation from you to allow them to act on your behalf.
Service requests
If it is the first time you are reporting an issue to us, we may decide to treat this as a service request.
The Housing Ombudsman Service’s definition of a Service Request is ‘a first request from a resident to the landlord requiring action to be taken to put something right.’
If you express dissatisfaction with the response to your service request, even if the handling of the service request remains ongoing, we will ensure that a complaint is raised.
Complaints
We have adopted the Housing Ombudsman’s definition of a complaint -
“an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting a resident or group of residents."
When dealing with your complaint we will -
- contact you to ensure we understand your complaint and the outcome you are seeking (defining your complaint)
- tell you which aspects of your complaint we are and are not responsible for
- keep you informed
- treat you fairly
- look into your case fully and properly
- whenever we write to you, we will include details of the Housing Ombudsman Service
- details of all contacts with you, and information provided by you, will be recorded on our complaints management system
The reasons that we may not consider a complaint include -
- when legal proceedings have started e.g. the matter is being dealt with as a claim. This is defined as details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and particulars of claim, have been filed at court
- when it relates to matters that have previously been considered under the complaints process and a final response (Stage 2) has been provided
- complaints of nuisance or antisocial behaviour (ASB), are dealt with as a service request. However, we will consider complaints about how nuisance or ASB reports were managed
- where an alternative review / appeal process or other regulatory body exists, for example the Information Commissioners Office
- complaints that are vexatious in nature or the customer refuses to engage with us or behaves in an unacceptable manner
- complaints about the conduct of employees will be recorded and will be investigated internally, however, to comply with data protection legislation, the outcome must remain confidential and will not be disclosed to the customer
You should make us aware of your complaint within 12 months of the incident happening, or within 12 months from when you first became aware that you had reason for complaint. If your complaint is received later than this, we may not be able to be fully investigate it.
We ask that you treat us and our employees with dignity and respect when submitting complaints and feedback. We reserve the right to cancel any complaint that contains excessive foul and abusive language. You will be asked to resubmit the complaint.
We are committed to providing a fair and reasonable complaints service making it as accessible as possible. Complainants who behave unreasonably will be referred to the Customer Feedback Team Leader who will consider their access options. This will be done on a case-by-case basis.