Complaints and compliments

We want to know what you think of our services and when you think we have done something well.

We use a form to record your views of our service. The form is called the “Feedback, comments and compliments form”.

You do not have to use this standard form to tell us what you think. You can give us your comments in writing, in person, by phone, by fax, via email or minicom and we will complete the form for you.

We undertake customer satisfaction surveys from time to time. Every three years we do a STATUS survey. The STATUS survey uses a standard set of questions so that our results can be compared with other housing associations and local housing authorities. The comparison of results is very helpful in identifying where we are doing less well compared with others. We will be introducing other customer satisfaction surveys in the years between STATUS surveys so that we can monitor progress.

We also do surveys on specific areas of our work such as day-to-day repairs, planned works and our anti-social behaviour service as well as others.

Please take time to complete and return our survey forms whenever you have the chance as the results of the surveys will improve as more people return their forms. The results of the surveys will be used to help us change the services we provide and the way we provide them to better deliver what you expect.

If your complaint is upheld at any stage we will take steps to make things right. This can take different forms, such as:

• Reversing a decision in your favour
• Formally apologising
• Reviewing procedures and informing you of the outcome
• Awarding compensation – We will only award compensation if you have suffered significant loss and there is no other suitable way of putting things right

We aim to:

• Show that we are listening to you
• Make clear what services we offer, so that you know what we will do for you and what we will not do
• Deliver consistent services
• Correct any mistakes that we have made as quickly as possible
• Apologise for any mistake we have made
• Offer compensation where justified
• Improve our procedures so that in future we do not repeat the mistake
• Maintain your confidence in our complaints procedure, by showing it to be fair, consistent and impartial

Complaints might be about:

• A decision we have made about you or your home
• The way we have dealt with a problem
• Not doing something we said we would do
• The conduct of our staff or contractors
• Our housing policies
• The way we have put our policies into practice

Complaints do not include:

• Reporting a repair for the first time
• Neighbour disputes (there is a separate leaflet on “Disputes”)
• Harassment (there is a separate leaflet on “Harassment”)
• Domestic violence (there is a separate leaflet on “Domestic Violence”)
• Complaints about the rent charged
• Appealing against an arrears decision – there is a separate process for this
• Appealing against an allocations decision – there is a separate process for this

Tell us that you want compensation when making your initial complaint. You can do this in the box marked “What would you like us to do?”.

We may award compensation if you have suffered significant loss, there is no other suitable way of putting things right, you have contacted us within a reasonable time after the event and you have not done anything to cause or add to the loss.

• Loss of room or accommodation A tenant cannot use a habitable room/s because of repair defects, major works or other similar circumstances. To qualify the room(s) will have been unusable for over a week and the following conditions met:
• The repair has been reported to the Association
• You have given reasonable access during normal working hours for the work to be carried out
• A reasonable time has elapsed in which the repair could have been carried out
• The repair is not the result of negligence by a resident or failure to conform with the terms of their tenancy.

• Work had been previously done by the Association to repair the defect and there was no reason to believe that the work was inadequate.

• Loss of an amenity Tenants do not have the use of an amenity listed below providing the conditions have been met and the loss is not the result of a third party or a matter over which the Association has no control.

• No hot water for over a week

• No heating at all for over 2 weeks (October - April)
• The lift is out of order for over a week

• Loss of service charge items for over 8 weeks, which have not been mentioned above.

• Damage to tenants' personal belongings The tenancy agreement says that the tenants are responsible for their own personal belongings and that they should take out a comprehensive household insurance policy. Tenants will therefore in the first instance be encouraged to claim on their own insurance policy.

If damage is caused to a residents personal belongings during the cause of a repair by a contractor, the Association will take responsibility for dealing with the tenant regarding the claim but the contractor will be responsible for reasonable payment either directly or through their insurers.

The Association will consider claims if a reasonable time has elapsed for the repair to be carried out etc. and the tenant has made reasonable attempts to reduce the loss eg. not leaving moveable possessions under a leak.

• Appointments for repairs Occasionally appointments for repairs are missed for some reason. Whilst this is both inconvenient and annoying we do not offer compensation in these circumstances. Any alleged failure to keep an appointment will be investigated and any contractor who is persistently breaking appointments will not be used in the future.