Help if you are waiting for a final response

The Ombudsman’s statutory Complaint Handling Code sets out that a landlord must provide a response, in writing, within the following timescales.

Stage 1

• acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days
• provide a response within 10 working days of the date of acknowledgment

Stage 2

• acknowledge the request to escalate the complaint, within 5 working days
• provide a response within 20 working days of the date of escalation acknowledgment

The landlord can extend the timescale to provide a response at both stages of the process, but it must set out its reasons for doing so and the date it will respond by in a written response to you within the timescales above.

A landlord’s complaints procedure must have no less than and no more than 2 stages.

If you have made a complaint to your landlord and the timescales above have passed, you might also consider taking the following actions:

• follow up with your landlord to check on the status of your complaint and when you can expect to hear back
• let your landlord know what you would like it to do to put things right – a lot of complaints can be resolved internally where parties are clear on expectations
• speak to your local MP or Citizens Advice
• keep communication open with your landlord, even if you have approached the Housing Ombudsman for help with your complaint
• contact the local authority if you have concerns about the condition or safety of your property
• keep a copy of the complaint you make, and any evidence related to it, for example diary sheets, repair requests or responses from the landlord

The landlord will require time to look into the issues you have raised. We would recommend that you do not:

• copy the Housing Ombudsman service into every email you send to the landlord as this will delay our response to you
• continuously contact the landlord asking for updates or add other issues to your complaint as this can confuse and delay investigations
• stop communication with your landlord completely as it might need additional information from you to be able to investigate the matter
• withhold rent payments as this can affect your tenancy

If you have made a complaint to your landlord and it has not provided a response in line with its complaint policy, we can help.

If the timescales for the landlord to provide a response have passed, our Dispute Support team provide local resolution between you and your landlord to get a response through the complaint process.

Once the team has sighted the complaint and are satisfied the timescale to respond has passed, they may decide to contact the landlord to instruct it to respond or where intervention is unsuccessful, or there is evidence of complaint handling failure, issue an order to it.

Please note, we cannot consider a complaint for formal investigation before the issues have been raised and considered at both stages of a landlord’s complaints process. The role of the Housing Ombudsman is to remain impartial - we cannot make a complaint on your behalf.

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