Housing Complaints
- Make a Housing Complaint
- Learning Outcomes from past Complaints
- Overview of the Housing Complaints Panel
Making a Housing Complaint
As per 3.2 of the Housing Ombudsman's 2024 Complaint Handling Code (Opens in a New Window): Residents must be able to raise their complaints in any way and with any member of staff. A complaint is defined as 'an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting a resident or group of residents.’ The main ways to make a complaint are detailed below.
Phone
Any Broxtowe Borough Council member of staff you are speaking to on the phone must take a complaint on your behalf if you wish them to do so. They will need to gather some contact information from you so the Complaints Team can get back in touch with you.
Online Form
You can make a complaint using this online form: Customer Complaints (Opens in a New Window). You will be given a reference number and the Complaints Team will get in touch with you. Your complaint must be acknowledged within 5 working days and the stage 1 response sent within 10 working days of the acknowledgment.
Letter
Broxtowe accepts complaints in writing. Please send complaints to the Broxtowe Borough Council Offices, Foster Avenue, Beeston, NG9 1AB and make sure to address the letter with The Complaints Team so it is correctly directed.
You can email complaints directly to complaints@broxtowe.gov.uk
Person
We can take complaints in person also. This might be easiest done by visiting the reception desk at Broxtowe Borough Council Offices, Foster Avenue, Beeston, NG9 1AB and speaking to the staff there who can take the details and pass it on to the Complaints Team.
It is still important to distinguish between a service request and a complaint. A service request is a request from a resident to the landlord requiring action to be taken to put something right. For more information on the difference see Complaint Policy (Opens in a New Window)
Learning Outcomes from past Complaints
We record any learning outcomes from complaints that require further action or changes to policy, process, or procedure. Please see an overview of improvements made to the service following complaints in the table below.
| Date | Service Area | Complaint | Learning |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2025 | Repairs - Damp & Mould | Persistent issues with damp and mould within the property and delays in communication. |
New Damp and Mould policy and procedure approved in September 2025 to ensure that reports of damp and mould are responded to promptly, and that the Council works proactively to identify issues. |
|
May 2025 |
Independent Living - Repairs |
Tenant in an Independent Living Scheme had an accident tripping over a mat at the entrance to this retirement living complex. The mat was badly worn and there was wire sticking out. |
Door mats to be replaced and email sent to the Independent Living Coordinators to check the door mats at other schemes at the next scheme inspection. |
|
February 2025
|
Lettings
|
Broxtowe Housing Allocations Policy states that care leavers who are not offered a property within 8 weeks at band 2 priority should move up to band 1, but this had not happened. |
A report was integrated into the Homechoice portal to automatically notify Housing Needs Assistants when care leavers are approaching the 8 week period so they are upgraded to band 2 status. |
|
November 2024
|
Repairs
|
Since moving into the property, the boiler had to be condemned due to faults discovered by the gas engineer that should have been identified when the boiler was decommissioned while the property was empty. Meaning the tenants were without heating for 5 days in winter. |
The process around 'Voids' (empty properties ready to relet) has changed so that when decommissioning the gas while a property is empty. We now perform checks on the boiler to ensure it is in working order and ready for incoming tenants before they move in. |
|
October 2024
|
Leasehold
|
The lack of communal cleaning and clearance services provided despite being paid for as part of annual service charges. |
Process for block cleans reviewed. 3 weekly inspections of blocks carried out by caretakers and plans to involve volunteer tenants from blocks to verify standard of cleaning. |
Overview of the Housing Complaints Panel
The Housing Complaints Panel meets quarterly to review how the Housing department have handled closed complaints. We provide a random selection of complaints from a Housing team chosen by the panel and invite the manager who has responded to those complaints along to the meeting. This allows panel members to directly question our complaints response with the relevant manager. We also provide specific performance information benchmarked against other local authorities to compare our service with similar housing providers. The panel is not to discuss personal complaints, but complaints handling by the Housing team as a whole.
Some recommendations from the panel include for complaint responses to demonstrate more compassion, avoid using acronyms and explain when actions are governed by specific policies.
The next meeting is on Thursday 22nd January from 1-3pm in Council Chambers at Council Offices, Beeston. We will be discussing Capital Works (new kitchens/bathrooms, aids & adaptations, energy efficiency...). We can provide transport or reimburse mileage if this is required to attend the meeting. If you are unable to attend meetings, you can feedback via email.
For more information call 0115 917 3935 or email housingengagment@broxtowe.gov.uk