Feedback & Complaints

Langstane Housing Association regards a complaint as any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by us or on our behalf.

You can complain about things like:

• failure or refusal to provide a service;
• inadequate quality or standard of service, or an unreasonable delay in providing a service;
• delays in responding to enquiries or requests;
• unfairness, bias or prejudice in service delivery;
• lack of provision, or the provision of misleading, unsuitable or incorrect advice or information;
• a repair that has not been carried out properly or in an agreed timeframe;
• dissatisfaction with one of our policies or its impact on the individual;
• failure to properly apply law, procedure or guidance when delivering services;
• failure to follow the appropriate administrative process;
• conduct, treatment by or attitude of a member of staff or contractor (except where there are arrangements in place for the contractor to handle the complaint themselves); or
• disagreement with a decision, (except where there is a statutory procedure for challenging that decision, or an established appeals process followed throughout the sector).

Your complaint may involve more than one Langstane Housing Association service or be about someone working on our behalf.

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaints handling procedure. These include:

• a routine first-time request for a service;
• a request for compensation only;
• issues that are in court or have already been heard by a court or a tribunal (if you decide to take legal action, you should let us know as the complaint cannot then be considered under this process);
• disagreement with a decision where there is a statutory procedure for challenging that decision (such as for freedom of information and subject access requests), or an established appeals process followed throughout the sector
• a request for information under the Data Protection or Freedom of Information (Scotland) Acts;
• a grievance by a staff member or a grievance relating to employment or staff recruitment;
• a concern raised internally by a member of staff (which was not about a service they received, such as a whistleblowing concern);
• a concern about a child or an adult’s safety;
• an attempt to reopen a previously concluded complaint or to have a complaint reconsidered where we have already given our final decision;
• abuse or unsubstantiated allegations about our organisation or staff; or
• a concern about the actions or service of a different organisation, where we have no involvement in the issue (except where the other organisation is delivering services on our behalf).

If other procedures or rights of appeal can help you resolve your concerns, we will give information and advice to help you.

Anyone who receives, requests or is directly affected by our services can make a complaint to us. This includes the representative of someone who is dissatisfied with our service (for example, a relative, friend, advocate or adviser).

If you are making a complaint on someone else’s behalf, you will normally need their written consent.

You can complain in person at any of our offices, by phone, in writing, by email or via our complaints form.

It is easier for us to address complaints if you make them quickly and directly to the service concerned. So please talk to a member of our staff at the service you are complaining about. Then they can try to resolve the issue.

When complaining, please tell us:

• your full name and contact details
• as much as you can about the complaint
• what has gone wrong; and
• what outcome you are seeking.

Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of:

• the event you want to complain about; or
• finding out that you have a reason to complain.

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

Stage one – Frontline resolution

We aim to resolve complaints quickly and close to where we provided the service. This could mean an on-the-spot apology and explanation if something has clearly gone wrong and immediate action to resolve the problem.

We will give you our decision at stage 1 in five working days or less, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If we can’t resolve your complaint at this stage, we will explain why. If you are still dissatisfied you can ask for your complaint to be investigated further through stage 2. You may choose to do this immediately or up to 6 months after you get our initial response. We can help you with making this request.

Stage two – Investigation

Stage 2 deals with two types of complaint: those that have not been resolved at stage 1 and those that are complex and require detailed investigation.

When using stage 2 we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days
• discuss your complaint with you to understand why you remain dissatisfied and what outcome you are looking for
• give you a full response to the complaint as soon as possible and within 20 working days.

If our investigation will take longer than 20 working days, we will tell you. We will agree revised time limits with you and keep you updated on progress.

After we have given you our final decision, if you are still dissatisfied with our decision or the way we dealt with your complaint, you can ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to look at it.

There are some complaints about housing that have an alternative route for independent review. We will tell you how to seek independent review when we give you our final response on your complaint.

If your complaint relates to a housing support service we provide, you can visit our Langstane Housing Support Service page where you will find more information on their specific complaints process.

The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) can consider issues raised with them about ‘significant performance failures’. A significant performance failure is defined by the SHR as something that a landlord does or fails to do that puts the interests of its tenants at risk, and which the landlord has not resolved. This is something that is a systemic problem that does, or could, affect all of a landlord’s tenants. If you are affected by a problem like this, you should first report it to us. If you have told us about it but we have not resolved it, you can report it directly to the SHR.

A complaint between an individual tenant and a landlord is not a significant performance failure. Significant performance failures are not, therefore, dealt with through this complaints handling procedure. You can ask us for more information about significant performance failures. The SHR also has more information on their website: scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/

Our contact details

Please contact us by the following means:

In writing to
Langstane Housing Association
680 King Street
Aberdeen
AB24 1SL

By telephone
01224 423 000

By email
info@langstane-ha.co.uk

We can also give you this leaflet in other languages and formats (such as large print, audio and Braille).