| HOW TO COMPLAIN |
| If you are not happy with something which your landlord has or has not
done then they should have complaints procedure to enable you to air your views and have your case dealt with. In practice it can be virtually useless and some landlords have very cynical ways of fobbing you off. Common ones are: |
| ENDLESS DELAY Regulators recommend a simple and speedy three stage process. You cannot take your case to the Housing Ombudsman Service until you have completed the three internal stages. So some landlords have dozens of tricks up their sleeves to drag out the three internal stages and grind you down so that you simply give up. It works most of the time. We know of numerous cases which drag on for well over a year before the tenant can go to the HOS. Even if you get that far, some landlords are very cocky about the outcome. And if you feel that the dice are always loaded in the landlords' favour what can you do about it? |
| WAFFLE |
| WORD GAMES |
| PAPER CHASES |
| NON REPLIES |
| MAGIC ROUNDABOUT The person you are dealing with is never the real decsion-maker, it is always down to somebody else. |
| REVOLVING DOOR You walk in their office to complain, and you find yourself out on the pavement in no time, feeling a bit dazed, with no solution and wondering why you bothered to visit them in the first place. |
| BUCK PASSING - somehow the ball always ends up back in your court. The next move is always up to you. . |
| UNTRUTHS |
| REPRISALS |
| BIASED APPEALS PANEL |
| SO WHAT CAN YOU DO ? |
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