Make a complaint

If you are unhappy with our service and you would like to make a complaint, you can do so in the following ways:

Please remember that the more information you are able to give us, the easier it will be to investigate your complaint. 

If your complaint relates to a service registered with ARCO please be guided by the procedure set out in our leaflet for these.

We have a two-stage complaint process

Stage one
At stage one, your complaint will be handled by your housing officer (HO) or property management officer (PMO). If your complaint is about your HO/PMO it will be dealt by their line manager. They aim to contact you to acknowledge your complaint within two working days, followed by a formal written response to your complaint within 10 working days (written responses can be translated into a preferred form or language on request).

Stage two
This is the final stage of the complaint process. If you are unhappy with the outcome at stage one please contact the person who responded to your stage one complaint within 20 working days after receiving the response advising them you wish to escalate and why. At this stage, you will have the option for two people to review your complaint; they can be an independent manager within the business and an independent resident from a pool of residents. We aim to review your complaint within 20 working days and will keep in contact with you during this time.

At any stage during your complaint, please be aware that you can approach the Housing Ombudsman for independent advice around your complaint. Once your complaint has exhausted our internal procedure, you can also contact the Ombudsman again at this point for a further investigation should you remain unhappy. For more information see our complaint policy.

For more information on how to make complaint and how your complaint will be dealt with, see our information leaflet. 

Going to the Housing Ombudsman

If you've been through our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can refer to the Housing Ombudsman Service which was set up to resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords. The service is free, independent and impartial.

You should be aware however, that in the majority of cases the Housing Ombudsman will only consider a complaint once it has been through our internal complaints procedure.

You can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service at:

The Housing Ombudsman Service is set up by law to resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (housing associations and local authorities) and voluntary members. 

In July 2020 the Housing Ombudsman published a new Complaint Handling Code which provides good practice for landlords on fair and effective complaint handling. The Housing Ombudsman will expect any case coming to their attention to have been managed in line with the new Code. We have published a self-assessment against the Code on 23 December 2020.  

Your questions answered

  • Who can I expect to respond?

    Your housing officer/PMO will be responsible for responding to your complaint.

    If you complaint is about your housing officer/PMO, it will be handled by their line manger. You should make this complaint by completing the contact form. 

  • What is a complaint?

    We consider a complaint to be any dissatisfaction our customer feels about an aspect of our service or service failure. It could be that:

    • We have failed to respond to your initial enquiries 
    • Our staff were unhelpful or were not polite 
    • We have failed to meet one of our customer service promises 
    • We gave unclear, misleading or unsuitable advice 

    There are some issues that we don't consider to be a complaint, such as reporting a repair for the first time or reporting anti-social behaviour (ASB). 

  • Are there other ways for me to help improve your service?

    We offer a range of different ways for residents to get involved in influencing the way we run our services and measuring how well we are doing.

  • I want to take my complaint straight to the Housing Ombudsman

    In order to make a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman, you will first need to go through our complaints procedure.

    You also need to wait eight weeks after receiving your final written response to your complaint before you can contact the Housing Ombudsman, otherwise they will direct you back to us.

  • Are there other types of Ombudsman?

    Depending on the type of complaint you are raising, there may be a more suitable Ombudsman who can look into your concerns.

    If your complaint relates to one of our financial products, please refer to:

    If your complaint relates to nominations or transfers from your local authority, you should refer your complaint to:

    • The Local Government Ombudsman
      PO Box 4771
      Coventry
      CV4 0EH
      0300 061 0614
      www.lgo.org.uk

    If your complaint relates to one of our Folio (market rent) properties, you should refer your complaint to:

    • The Property Ombudsman Limited
      Milford house, 43-55 Milford Street
      Salisbury, Wiltshire
      SP1 2BP
      01722 333306
      admin@tpos.co.uk
  • What are we doing to improve our complaints process?
    • Residents can now log complaints themselves on My Account. Between October 2020 and March 2021, over 54% complaints were raised using My Account.
    • We have worked with our involved residents to update our website and complaints leaflet, making it easier for residents to complain when things go wrong.
    • We have focused more on ‘quick fixes’ to resolve complaints as quickly as possible when things do wrong.
  • How are we performing?

    We are committed to responding to our complaints in a timely manner, in line with the Ombudsman Code. We aim to respond within 10 working days at stage 1 and 20 working days at stage 2, or to agree an alternative date for response with you.

    The table below summarises our performance:

    % Stage 1 complaints responded to within timescales % of complaints at S1 responded to within 10 days, or within the time agreed with the resident. This is calculated as a year-to-date figure.  71.6%
    % Stage 2 complaints responded to within timescales % of complaints at S2 responded to within 20 days, or within the time agreed with the resident. This is calculated as a year-to-date figure.  70.1%

    We'll update this information regularly.

Read our complaints and compliments policy