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Making a complaint about housing services

How to make a complaint about housing services

We're responsible for carrying out social housing functions, which are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing.

These functions also fall within the responsibility of the Housing Ombudsman Service. One of the Ombudsman's tasks is to ensure we handle complaints properly. 

This is different to the other services we provide, most of which fall under the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

We’re committed to delivering excellent public services and putting customers at the heart of everything we do. We’re dedicated to listening to your feedback and using it to learn and improve. 

Whilst we always work to meet your needs, we recognise that on occasions our services may fall short of your expectations. If this is the case, please contact us as soon as possible. We might be able to resolve or put the issue right for you.

Before you make a complaint 

If you have not raised the issue before, there may be a faster and more efficient way to resolve your concern. For example:

If you still need to make a complaint, it’ll be useful for you to have: 

  • specific examples of what happened and who was involved
  • dates the incidents took place
  • any background information that could be relevant (such as letters or emails)
  • an understanding of what you would like to achieve by making a complaint

If your complaint is more than 12 months old

We can only accept complaints about matters that have happened more than 12 months ago if there’s an adequate reason and exceptional circumstances

If you wish to discuss making a complaint outside the 12-month timescale, please contact our complaints team.

Who can make a complaint about housing services

You must be a tenant or leaseholder. If you feel that we (or someone carrying out a service on our behalf) have provided poor service you can make a complaint.

This could include, for example, being unhappy with a landlord's approach to resolving an issue or the outcome. 

Making a complaint on your behalf 

We understand that you might be unable or reluctant to make a complaint yourself. We can take complaints from a friend, relative or an advocate on your behalf. 

If you ask someone to make a complaint on your behalf, we will ask you give formal permission for them to: 

  • discuss your personal information 
  • send any documents that contain personal information to be sent to you directly, to share with your advocate, if you wish

You can also have someone attend any appointments with you, or on your behalf.

If you're not a tenant or leaseholder

If you are not a council tenant or leaseholder, you cannot use the housing complaints procedure to complain about someone who is. 

However, our housing team will still assist you with your complaint. This is a very similar process, but it's not regulated by the Housing Ombudsman Service. We instead will follow the Complaint Handling Code published by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Make a complaint about housing services

You can make a complaint by using our online form. 

Make a complaint online

You can also make a complaint by:

Email: complaints@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 373 3300

Post: Complaints Team
Westmorland and Furness Council
South Lakeland House
Lowther Street
Kendal 
LA9 4DQ

Please contact us if you need adjustments or have additional needs to make a complaint. For example, if you need information printed in Braille or translated into another language. We’ll discuss this with you to agree how we can best help. 

Our Compliments and Complaints Policy (PDF , 199KB)

Unacceptable behaviour 

We aim to treat all customers with courtesy and politeness. We recognise that you may be angry, frustrated, upset and have issues of genuine concern.  

We also have a duty to protect the safety and welfare of our staff and expect people to treat us with the same consideration and respect.

Our unreasonable customer policy can be found in the Compliments and Complaints Policy.

How we will deal with your complaint

The complaints process consists of two stages. We aim to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction as soon as we can at stage one. 

The complaint Handling Code

The Housing Ombudsman Service has published a Complaint Handling Code.

This Code sets out how member landlords (which includes us) should manage complaints that fall within the Ombudsman’s authority.

All areas of the Code are mandatory. If a landlord is unable to comply with any of them, they must explain why and show how they are working towards meeting the requirements. 

Compliance with the Code is a statutory obligation. This means that all social housing landlords have to comply with the code, by the law.

The Housing Ombudsman requires all member landlords to demonstrate that they’re compliant with the Code. This includes publishing a yearly self-assessment and an annual complaints performance report. Both should be shared with managers, elected members and tenants.

We have published our latest:

Stage one

We’ll acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it. We’ll then allocate your complaint to the most appropriate person to investigate the issue. 

We’ll provide a full response within 10 working days from our acknowledgement. However, if your complaint is more complex and needs further consideration we can extend the timescale by another 10 working days. If we need to extend the response period, we’ll clearly explain our decision and reasoning to you. 

If you need to add new information to your complaint

You may wish to give us additional information whilst your complaint is going through the process.
If the information is related to the original issue, we’ll add this to your complaint and take it into account when we respond to you. 

If the information is not related to your original complaint, we’ll log it as a separate and new complaint.

Stage two

If we’ve not been able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction at stage one, you can progress it to stage two. 

Usually, you must contact us within 10 working days of receiving your stage one response. However, we can sometimes accept complaints after this timescale, on a case-by-case basis. 

If you want to progress your complaint to stage two, you’ll need to tell us what parts of the complaint you’re not satisfied with. 

We’ll acknowledge your complaint within five working days of you escalating it. 

Stage two is a review of how adequate the stage one response was, as well as any new and relevant information that we’ve not considered. It’s not a more thorough, detailed investigation of your complaint. 

We’ll provide a full and final response to your complaint within 20 working days of acknowledging it. If your complaint requires a complex investigation, we can extend the response timescale by a further 20 working days. This will allow us to provide you with the best response possible and we’ll contact you to explain if this is the case. 

The stage 2 response should be a full and final response to the complaint and should clearly set out:

  • the final decision on your complaint
  • that it's the landlord’s final response
  • details of any remedy offered or actions it will take 
  • details of how to bring your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service for investigation
  • contact details for the Housing Ombudsman Service

If you remain dissatisfied with the findings at stage two, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman for independent review.

If we have not resolved your complaint 

If you’re unhappy with the outcome of your complaint at Stage two, or you feel we have not answered within a reasonable timescale, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service. 

How to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service

You can:

The Housing Ombudsman Service has published guidance on sending letters to them by post.