Understand the process
It is important to us that your complaint is dealt with quickly and fairly. We investigate complaints to help put matters right for you and to improve our services to residents and businesses.
Our policy for complaints about housing can be found here (PDF). This policy applies to housing that the Council owns and/or manages, including homes managed by the Council on behalf of West Ham Non-Ecclesiastical Charity (WHNEC) and properties that are managed on the Council’s behalf by a tenant management organisation (TMO) or private finance initiative (PFI). You do not need to be a tenant or leaseholder to make a complaint about the housing service.
How long will a response take?
The relevant service will carry out an investigation and respond to you in writing. If they require any further information they will be in touch.
You will receive a response within 20 working days unless you are making a housing complaint in accordance with the Housing Complaints Policy (PDF), when it's 10 working days.
Ask for a review if you are not satisfied
In the majority of cases, matters are resolved at this point. However, if you’re not satisfied with our response, you can ask for a review of our decision. You will need to:
- tell us why you are unhappy with our decision
- include any new information or evidence that supports your case, or highlight anything that you feel has not been taken into account in the response.
The process for requesting a review will be set out when you receive your initial complaints response.
Contact an ombudsman
If after the review you are still not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman an independent body, external to the council, which investigates complaints about councils.
If your complaint is about the council as your landlord, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman.
The process for contacting an ombudsman will be set out when you receive your review response.
