How to make a complaint
Our Tenant Experience team is your main point of contact for any complaints. They are here to listen and help resolve any concerns you may have.
You can contact us in the following ways:
- Telephone: 0300 003 7007 and select option 2
- Email: enquiries@glh.org.uk
- By post:
Head of Tenant Experience
Golden Lane Housing
Parkway Four
Parkway Business Centre
Princess Road
Manchester
M14 7HR
You can also use complete the ‘Contact Form’ below to tell us about your complaint.
Contact Form
Data protection
Golden Lane Housing promises to keep your data safe and secure and in line with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. We will only use your information to provide the service you have requested and we will not sell your data. You can manage and review your privacy choices at any time by contacting us at enquiries@glh.org.uk.
You can view our privacy notice here
What is a complaint?
We use the Housing Ombudsman’s definition of a complaint:
A complaint is ‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.’
What is a service request?
We also use the Housing Ombudsman’s definition of a service request:
“A service request is a request from a resident to the landlord requiring action to be taken to put something right. Service requests are not complaints but must be recorded”
We don’t treat service requests as complaints.
Whenever you tell us you are unhappy with our service, we will make sure you are given the option to make a formal complaint if you wish to do so.
If you are unable to make a complaint yourself, we are happy to accept one on your behalf from someone you have chosen, such as a friend, family member, advocate, appointed deputy or legal representative.
How we handle complaints
We know that sometimes things can go wrong. Our complaints process is designed to make it easy for you to tell us when you are unhappy, and to make sure we put things right as quickly and fairly as possible.
There are 2 stages to our complaints process.
Stage 1 – Make it right
When you raise a complaint, we will aim to resolve it as quickly as we can.
What we will do
We will:
- Make sure we clearly understand your concerns and the outcome you would like.
- Try to contact you by phone on the day we receive your complaint to see if we can resolve it straight away.
- If we need more time to look into your complaint, we will write to you within five working days to confirm we have received it.
- Assign a colleague to review your complaint in a fair and impartial way.
- Send you a full written response within a further 10 working days.
- Let you know if we need to agree an extension to these timescales.
We aim to complete Stage 1 within three weeks (15 working days).
While we are looking into your complaint, we will also:
- Acknowledge when things have gone wrong and apologise where appropriate.
- Take action to put things right.
- Clearly explain what we can and cannot do.
- Explain any legal responsibilities that apply.
- Consider any additional related concerns you raise while we are still investigating. If new issues are not related or would delay the response, we may ask you to submit a new complaint.
- Work with you to find a fair solution and maintain a positive relationship.
- Consider compensation where appropriate and in line with our compensation policy.
- Make reasonable adjustments where needed under the Equality Act 2010.
- Give you the opportunity to challenge any findings before a final decision is made.
- Use what we learn from complaints to improve our services.
Stage 2 – Senior Colleague Review
If you are not satisfied with the Stage 1 response, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed at Stage 2.
At this stage:
- Your complaint will be reviewed by a senior member of staff who was not involved in Stage 1.
- This will usually be a manager or another appropriate senior colleague. We will tell you who is reviewing your complaint.
- They will review your complaint and why it was not resolved at Stage 1.
- You will normally receive a written response within 20 working days.
The Housing Ombudsman and Complaint Handling Code
The Complaint Handling Code was introduced by the Housing Ombudsman to help landlords like Golden Lane Housing resolve complaints quickly and positively. It also asks landlords to learn from complaints.
The code is also a guide for tenants, setting out what they can and should expect from Golden Lane Housing when they are unhappy with the service they receive from us.
It also advises when a tenant can contact the Housing Ombudsman about their complaint.
Read the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
Referring a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman
If you feel your complaint hasn’t been resolved after going through our complaints process, you have the right to ask the Housing Ombudsman Service to look into your case.
The Ombudsman is independent and free – they can review how your complaint was handled or investigate the issue itself.
You can refer your case to the Housing Ombudsman in the following situations:
- If you did not receive a response to your complaint from us.
- If you are unhappy with Golden Lane Housing’s final response after Stage 2 of our complaints process.
- If you are unhappy with a decision not to accept your complaint in the first place.
For the Ombudsman to consider the matter, your complaint should normally have been through both stages of our complaints process first, unless there is evidence of a complaint handling failure or an unreasonable delay. You will usually need to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman within 12 months of the date of our final response.
Once the Housing Ombudsman has reviewed your complaint, they will issue their findings, known as a determination.
How to contact the Housing Ombudsman
- By post:
Housing Ombudsman Service
PO Box 152
Liverpool
L33 7WQ - Telephone: 0300 111 3000
- Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
- Website: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk