How should I complain to my social housing provider?

According to a report from the Office for National Statistics all about disability and housing, nearly 25 percent of working aged disabled people rent through a social landlord , whilst at the same time there is a massive shortage of accessible housing across the UK.

Did you know that in England only seven percent of homes incorporate minimal accessibility features and in Scotland less than one percent of local authority housing is wheelchair accessible?

MS-UK’s helpline team are here to support the MS community and issues with housing and potential homelessness are something that we often discuss with callers.

If you live in social housing and have issues with your housing provider the helpline team will outline what action you can take, and what steps you’ll need to go through to make things better.

Potential issues could be in relation to generally poor housing conditions such as problems with mould, damp or leaks. It could also be connected to anti-social behaviour and issues with neighbours.

Given we are supporting people with a disability it is also a very real possibility that social housing issues could be connected with accessibility.

There may well be support at a high level from the Housing Ombudsman Service. The Housing Ombudsman is an independent, impartial, and free service that investigates complaints and resolves disputes between residents and landlords in social housing, social landlords, local authorities, and other registered housing providers and associations.

The Housing Ombudsman has the power to resolve disputes between residents and landlords, including making orders for apologies, repairs, or even compensation. The Ombudsman can also issue orders to address systemic issues beyond individual complaints should the issues people face be on a bigger scale.

Before getting the support of the Housing Ombudsman there are steps that need to be taken.

Your first steps should be to report your issues to your landlord. In most instances this can be done online or through your individual housing officer or tenancy support team. It’s strongly advised that you create a trail and report your issues in writing.

If your issue is not resolved once it has been formally reported, you have every right to complain. Your housing association or social landlord will have a complaints policy and process. This is often on their website, however if you need this in an accessible format please ask your landlord.

Once you have officially complained your landlord will have to respond to you in a set timescale. You would need to check the housing association, local authority, or landlord’s individual policy but usually they will have to respond to you is within 10 working days.

If the idea of writing a complaint is daunting, there is some guidance that will help. The Housing Ombudsman Service has written a very detailed guide on ‘how to complain to your landlord’ which includes a step-by-step guide on how to complain and makes suggestions as to how to structure your complaint to ensure it is as effective as possible. They even include a template that you can use.

If due to your disability or health condition raising a complaint is too challenging, you may be able to get extra help. You can get support from your local Law Centre, Citizens Advice, the housing and homelessness charity Shelter or your local floating support or housing outreach service. To find out if there is a local floating support service, contact your local council’s Homelessness or Housing Options Service as they will know if there is a commissioned short term support service.

Once they have investigated your issue your landlord should send you a response which should outline how they intend to remedy any issues.

If your landlord sends you a final response and closes or finalises your complaint and you are not happy with the outcome or how they propose to make things better, you can then raise the issue to the Housing Ombudsman.