Making a Housing Complaint

Making a complaint about council housing

The Housing Ombudsman is an independent organisation that looks at complaints about council housing. In 2020, they made a new set of rules called the Complaint Handling Code. These rules help make sure complaints are dealt with fairly and properly.

We’ve updated our own Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy to follow these rules.

Why complaints matter

If something has gone wrong, we want to know as soon as possible. This helps us fix the problem and improve our service.

A complaint means you’re unhappy with something we’ve done—or not done. You don’t have to use the word “complaint.” If you tell us you’re unhappy, we’ll ask if you want to make a complaint.

How you can make a complaint

You can tell us in lots of ways:

• Fill in our Complaints Form
• Speak to any member of staff
• Email us at councilhousingcomplaints@tendringdc.gov.uk
• Call us on 01255 686868 or the number of the team you’ve been speaking to
• Visit our Reception at Pier Avenue, Clacton (open Monday to Wednesday, 10am–1pm)

Want to know more?

• Read our Corporate & Housing Complaints Policy
• See our self-assessment of how we follow the Complaint Handling Code
• Visit the Housing Ombudsman’s website to learn more about the Code

The Code helps landlords fix problems quickly and learn from complaints to make things better. Every year, we check how well we’re following the rules.

Annual complaints and service improvement report

We are also required to produce an annual report showing how we have performed in handling complaints and setting out how we have and intend to learn from the complaints we have received.

You can read this report Housing complaints and service improvement report.