Housing complaints performance and service improvement annual report 2023/2024

Identifying the main themes from the complaints we receive is an important tool we use to identify areas where we need to focus service improvement on. During 2023/24 the following were the main housing complaint themes:

Time taken to complete the repair:

• residents left without the full use of rooms due to the length of time taken to complete the repair, or facilities such as hot water and heating
• outstanding repairs causing other issues within the property due to the time taken to complete the repair - i.e. example states damaged guttering has resulted in damp and mould in the home
• 'make safe' appointments provide a temporary fix, but the full repair then takes a long time to complete
• a number of complaints relate to roofing issues specifically and the time taken to complete repairs
• customers having to live with damp and mould in their home for long periods of time due to time taken to complete a repair - one said they waited 6 months after they initially reported the damp and mould and still hadn't had an appointment

Estate maintenance

Rubbish building up in back lanes and the length of time taken by the council to address it.

Neighbouring gardens in poor condition, despite reports no action taken.

Antisocial behaviour

Reports of minor antisocial behaviour not being addressed by the council. One customer said they'd reported numerous issues over 5 years and no action had been taken. Examples include - loud music from neighbours, cigarette ends being thrown into neighbours garden, rubbish in neighbouring gardens, general noise from neighbouring properties.

Boundary maintenance

Work relating to boundary fences/hedges commenced without communication with the customer leaving no boundary between two properties.

Damage to personal property

A customer complained that personal items were removed from a communal area in a block of flats and disposed of.

A resident complained that their personal property was damaged while in storage during a house move and that some items went missing.

Communication

• Work such as scaffolding being erected was carried out without being communicated to the resident - one example is from a private tenant living next door to a council tenant who'd had scaffolding erected in their property without any prior notice or permission requested.
• Appointments missed without being communicated with the customer.  
• A number of customers state that they've contacted the council repairs service to report a new repair or seek an update. They state nobody got back to them.
• Customers not kept up to date with the progress of their repair work, they have to contact the council if they need an update and many state they're told somebody will contact them, but they don't.
• Customers receiving multiple updates for repair work appointments which just provides a reference number. One reported receiving numerous text messages with different dates for works leaving them unsure when their work would be carried out.
• Works booked in with the customer but then cancelled with no warning. The customer then had to contact the repairs service to rebook.
• Some residents have reported that they feel that the officer they've dealt with has had a poor attitude towards them.

In 2024/25 we will develop our approach to learning from complaints that will seek to:

• meet our regulatory requirements
• identify emerging themes and issues so that we can act promptly
• focus on embedding learning
• demonstrate that we have learned from complaints
• share learning across services and the wider council

Our approach will be informed by learning from peers across the council and other social landlords.