We don’t always get things right. If you are unhappy with the service you receive from us, we would like to hear from you so that we can put it right, learn from it and improve our services going forward.
How to Complain
Complaints can be made in person, in writing, by telephone, email or online (online coming soon). Staff will be happy to help you to complete the form or do it on your behalf.
When to Complain
Please make a complaint if our service is poor or if it has left you dissatisfied or unhappy. For example, you might want to complain if:
• we fail to carry out a repair;
• staff or contractors have been unhelpful;
• we have given you incorrect information;
• we, or the people we employ, are treating certain groups of people unfairly; or
• we have not done something we should have done.
If something does go wrong, please make your complaint as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we cannot deal with complaints about something that happened more than 12 months ago.
You can find a copy of our Complaints Policy here.
What happens when I make a complaint?
• We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days.
• The Head of Operations will investigate your complaint and contact you if they need to find out more or clarify any details.
• We will respond within 10 working days of acknowledging your complaint. Where this is not possible, we will notify you why there is a delay, and a full reply will be no later than 20 working days from receipt.
• If you do not contact us within 30 working days of receiving our response, it will be assumed that you do not wish to take the complaint further and the complaint will be closed.
• If you are not happy with the response, you may request to progress to stage 2. We will acknowledge your request within 5 working days and, unless they have been involved at stage 1 or the complaint involves them, the Chief Executive will investigate your complaint.
• We will issue the stage 2 response within 20 working days of the complaint being acknowledged. If an extension to this timescale is needed, for instance due to the complexity of the complaint, we will inform the complainant of the expected timescale for response. Any extension will be no more than 20 working days without good reason, and we will clearly explain that reason to the complainant.
• If the tenant does not contact us within 40 working days of receiving our response to their stage 2 complaint, it will be assumed that they do not wish to take the complaint further and the complaint will be closed.
What if I am still not satisfied?
You can take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. Indeed, if at any stage, you aren’t happy with our response, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service in the following ways:
• Online: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint/
• Email: info@housingombudsman.org.uk
• Phone: 0300 111 3000
• Write to: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
Housing Ombudsman Service Complaints Handling Code
We handle complaints in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s complaints handling code and each year conduct a self assessment against their requirements. This is reviewed by our board of management and published on our website here.
What we do with complaints
The Board annually review complaints that have been received, the decisions taken and changes implemented as a result. You can view a copy of our annual complaints performance and service improvement report here.
Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC)
We have appointed one of our Board members to have lead responsibility for complaints and to support a positive complaint handling culture. This role will ensure the Board receives regular information on complaints that provide insight to the Association’s complaint handling performance.