Complaints procedure
What to do if you want to complain about a service delivered by the Regulator of Social Housing.
A complaint is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction. Before you submit a complaint, please check to see if there is a more appropriate route for dealing with your concerns.
How to complain about a social housing provider (landlord)
To complain about a landlord please see the Information for social housing tenants page.
How to appeal against our regulatory decisions
For guidance on which decisions made by the Regulator of Social Housing you can appeal, and how to appeal, see our How to appeal against our decisions page.
How to contact us
By mail:
Referrals and Regulatory Enquiries team
Regulator of Social Housing
Level 2
7-8 Wellington Place
Leeds LS1 4AP
By email: [email protected]
By telephone: 0300 124 5225. Choose option 3
How we handle complaints about RSH
Your complaints will be handled quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way. We treat all complaints in confidence. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the security of your personal data. Please read our privacy notice to find out more about how we do this.
Where someone complains orally, we will make a written record and provide a copy of it within 3 working days. We’ll acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days of receipt. We will respond to you as soon as possible and within 40 working days. If the investigation into your complaint will take longer, you’ll be kept informed of the progress of the case.
When we receive a complaint about a service provided by RSH, these go through a three-stage process:
Stage 1
The complaint is managed by the team to which the complaint relates. You should complain no later than 3 months after you became aware of the problem or should reasonably have become aware of it.
Stage 2
If you’re unhappy with the way that we handled your complaint at stage 1 you can escalate it for an independent review of the original complaint. The review will be carried out by a different team to the one that handled the stage 1 review. You should submit your complaint within 3 months of receiving a response to stage 1.
Stage 3
If you’re still unhappy with our response you can refer it to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, who will carry out an independent review. If you wish to make a referral to CEDR you should do this as soon as possible, as CEDR may not be able to consider the matter if there is undue delay in referring the matter to them. CEDR will be able to provide guidance to you on the timescales that apply.
If you are still not satisfied, you can ask your MP to take your complaint to the independent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to review the handling of your complaint.
Accessibility
In accordance with our duties under the Equalities Act 2010, on request, the RSH must make reasonable adjustments so that complainants do not face undue difficulties in contacting us. We will offer appropriate help to enable people to use this complaints procedure effectively. For example, if a complainant feels more comfortable talking to someone about their complaint, a RSH staff member can write a note and check with the complainant that it covers all the issues they want to raise.
Unreasonably persistent or vexatious complainants
We are committed to providing clear and prompt responses to people who contact us, and to dealing appropriately with information supplied to us about registered providers.
We understand that the circumstances leading to someone approaching RSH may have been upsetting or distressing, and that behaviour may be out of character. However, some individuals who contact us are so angry and/or persistent that their behaviour results in unreasonable demands on, or behaviour towards our staff.
Our approach to dealing with unacceptable behaviour, where complainants become unreasonably persistent or vexatious, is outlined on our Service standards page. This policy will only be applied when all other courses of action have been exhausted and only under limited circumstances.