How to complain about problems with your social housing

It can be helpful to keep records of anything to do with the issue you’re complaining about. Keep records of:

• phone calls
• appointments
• emails or letters.

Doing this will help you provide evidence if you need to.

The steps you’ll need to take to make a complaint will depend on where you live:

If you live in England
If you live in Wales
If you live in Scotland

You should make a complaint to your council or housing association first. Complaints could be about:

• repairs and maintenance
• issues with communal areas
• health and safety issues
• antisocial behaviour
• customer service.

Your landlord must have a complaints process. You can find this on their website or ask them for a copy. The complaints process will tell you how to complain and what your landlord will do in response.

There must be two stages to their complaints process.

You should not be penalised for making a complaint and it will not affect your tenancy. 

Councils and housing associations have to allow tenants to complain in different ways, such as:

• by phone
• by letter
• by email
• through their website
• in person.

It’s a good idea to complain in writing so that you can keep a copy for your records.

The Housing Ombudsman’s website has advice on how to write your complaint, including a template.

If you need help making a complaint, you can contact our Helpline, or call Citizens Advice.

In stage one, your landlord must acknowledge your complaint within five working days. They must also give you a written response no more than 10 working days after acknowledging your complaint.

A stage one response must include:

• a summary of your complaint
• their decision and the reasons for their decision
• if they’re going to do anything to put things right
• what to do if you’re still not happy.

If you do not hear back from your landlord, the Housing Ombudsman can help you chase them.

After stage one, if you’re still not satisfied with your landlord’s response, you can ask to escalate your complaint to stage two. Your landlord must acknowledge a stage two complaint within five working days. They must give you a written response within 20 working days.

The stage two response should be the landlord’s full and final response to the complaint. It should clearly set out:

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

You have to complete both stages of your landlord’s complaints procedure before bringing the same complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. They will only investigate a claim if they have evidence that your landlord has given a full and final response. You must do this within 12 months of your landlord’s final response.

You’ll need to tell them what you think has gone wrong and what you think the landlord should do to put things right. There’s further advice on how to submit a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman on their website.

You can submit your complaint by:

• using the Housing Ombudsman's online complaint form
• emailing info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
• calling 0300 111 3000.

The Housing Ombudsman can order your landlord to put things right, to change their policies or to pay you compensation.

You should make a complaint to your council or housing association first.

Your landlord will have a complaints procedure on their website. This will tell you how to complain and what they will do in response. You can also contact your landlord to ask for a copy.

There will be two stages to their complaints procedure.

First, try to resolve your concern informally. Talk to the person you’re dealing with about the problem. If they’re not able to help you can make a formal complaint.

You can make a formal complaint to your landlord in any of the following ways:

• by phone
• by letter
• by email
• using a paper form
• through their website.

It’s a good idea to complain in writing so that you can keep a copy for your records.

If you need help making a complaint, you can contact our Helpline, or call Citizens Advice Cymru.

Your landlord must acknowledge a formal complaint within five working days. They should usually resolve your complaint within 20 working days. They must tell you if your complaint will take longer than this.

Your landlord’s response should explain:

• their final decision on your complaint
• how and why they came to their decision
• details of any remedy offered or actions they will take.

If you’re not happy with your landlord’s response, you can complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. They can look at complaints about:

• repairs and maintenance
• antisocial behaviour.

You must give your landlord a reasonable amount of time to resolve your complaint before contacting the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman cannot usually look at complaints about antisocial behaviour that ended more than a year ago.

You can submit your complaint by:

• using the Ombudsman's online complaint form
• calling 0300 790 0203
• downloading and filling in a complaints form and emailing it to ask@ombudsman.wales or posting it to 1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae, Pencoed CF35 5LJ.

You can complain in English or Welsh. There’s more information about how to complain on the Ombudsman’s website.

The Ombudsman can recommend your landlord put things right, improve their procedures or pay you compensation.

You should send a complaint to your council or housing association first. Complaints can be about:

• repairs and maintenance
• discrimination
• health and safety issues
• antisocial behaviour.

Make your complaint in writing by email or post. Include information about when the problem started and what you want them to do. You may also want to include any evidence of the problem, including:

• receipts for purchases you’ve made that are related to the problem
• photographs or other evidence of the problem.

Remember to keep a copy of your complaint and any evidence of the problem for your records.

The council or housing association will have a complaints procedure on their website. You can also contact them and ask for a copy. They will normally have two stages to their complaints procedure.

In stage one, the council or housing association must respond to your complaint within five working days. If you do not hear back from your landlord, contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to chase them.

After stage one, if you’re still not satisfied with their response, you can ask to progress your complaint to stage two. Your landlord must respond within 20 working days.

The stage two response should be the landlord’s full and final response to the complaint. It should clearly set out:

• their final decision on your complaint
• that it is the landlord’s final response
• details of any remedy offered or actions they will take
• details of how to bring your complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman for investigation
• contact details for the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

You have to complete both stages of your landlord’s complaints procedure to contact the Public Services Ombudsman with the same complaint. They will only investigate if they have evidence that your landlord has given you a full and final response. You must complain to them within a year of the start of the issue with your landlord.

You’ll need to tell them what you think has gone wrong and what you think the landlord should do to put things right. You can fill in a complaint form online or call them on 0800 377 7330.

The Ombudsman can recommend how your landlord puts things right.