Complaints relating to the Council's housing landlord functions
Complaints about the Council's actions as a housing landlord are dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman Service. Where a complaint involves the actions of the Council as both the landlord and the local authority, the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may decide to carry out a joint investigation.
The Housing Ombudsman defines landlord functions as leasehold services, moving to a Council owned property, rent and service charges, occupancy rights, Council owned property condition (repairs and improvements), tenants' behaviour, estate management, complaints handling and compensation. See Which ombudsman for social housing complaints
If, having exhausted the Council's corporate complaints procedure, your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may complain to:
Housing Ombudsman Service - P O Box 152, Liverpool, L33 7WQ
Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Please note that since October 1, 2022, tenants who remain dissatisfied with the Council’s Stage Two review decision no longer have to contact the ‘designated person’ or wait eight weeks before referring their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. Tenants can still contact their MP, local councillor or tenant panel about a complaint, but the 'designated person' role will not be part of the Housing Ombudsman’s formal process.
[1] Schedule 2, para.7 Housing Act 1996 (as amended)
Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
The Housing Ombudsman has a Complaint Handling Code that all social housing landlords must follow to ensure they are responding to complaints effectively and fairly.
As a social housing landlord, the Council is required to produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for scrutiny and challenge, which must include:
- a self-assessment against the Code to ensure the complaint handling policy remains in line with its requirements;
- a qualitative and quantitative analysis of complaint handling performance - including a summary of the types of complaints the landlord has refused to accept;
- any findings of non-compliance with the Code by the Ombudsman;
- the service improvements made as a result of learning from complaints;
- any annual report about the landlord’s performance from the Ombudsman; and
- any other relevant reports or publications produced by the Ombudsman in relation to the work of the landlord.
Read the Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report.
The complaints performance and service improvement report was approved by Cabinet on the 23rd July 2024 for publishing and submission to the Housing Ombudsman. Visit the committee page for more information.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman deals with complaints relating to housing allocations, homelessness, general housing advice, housing benefit, housing improvement grants, antisocial behaviour (other than tenant behaviour) noise nuisance, sale or disposal of land on housing estates and planning and building control (Council owned properties). If, having exhausted the Council's corporate complaints procedure, a complaint is not resolved to the complainant's satisfaction, the complainant may refer the complaint straight to the Local Government Ombudsman.
The 'designated person' procedure does not apply to complaints dealt with by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.