Introduction

This report provides information on the complaints received about the Council’s Housing Service which is responsible for the management and maintenance of the Council’s Temporary Accommodation stock between the 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. It excludes complaints which are submitted about other housing services provided by the Council. All complaints are dealt with in accordance with the Council’s Corporate Complaints and Compliments Policy.

Complaints

The Council is pleased to report that during the 2025/26 financial year, only two complaints were received relating to the landlord service for Council‑owned properties.

The first matter related to a report of anti‑social behaviour (NM01, Part 1), resulting in one anti‑social behaviour case being opened. The issue was reported by a neighbour of a council‑owned temporary accommodation property. Following investigation, the complaint was upheld and the resident responsible for the disturbance was removed from the property.

The second matter concerned a complaint from a resident living in a property housing multiple households, regarding secondary smoke entering their home through open windows. The complaint was investigated and upheld. As a mitigating measure, the designated smoking area was relocated to reduce the likelihood of further recurrence.

The low number of complaints demonstrates the effectiveness of the Council’s continued investment in its housing stock, ensuring that residents facing homelessness are provided with safe and suitable accommodation. It also reflects a strong focus on the effective management of tenancies and properties.

No complaints were refused or declined for acceptance during this period.

Annual Self-Assessment

Officers have completed a Self-Assessment for 2025-26 against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.

This ensures the Council aligns our policies and practices to provide a prompt and effective complaints service.

The council are continually seeking to improve our performance and our monitoring of compliance with the Complaint Handling Code and this annual review is another important tool to ensure that we are doing so.

Learning and Service Improvement

The drive behind the requirement from the Housing Ombudsman to produce this report is to make sure complaints are robustly dealt with whilst also making sure any issues found are addressed and that landlords learn from complaints to improve service delivery. The Housing service continues to learn from the complaints received but are pleased that these remain few in number.

The Housing Service continue to work hard to maintain a high-quality service, for example by seeking to improve rent arrears collection by ensuring a fair and consistent approach which also considers known personal circumstances when pursuing a debt after a tenancy has ended. We are reviewing our aged debt recovery processes to work in partnership with our Help Hub so that debt advice can be used as a tool to make this process more compatible with customers circumstances.

Housing Ombudsman Complaint Investigations

The Housing Ombudsman considers complaints about the services provided by Registered Providers where the resident remains unsatisfied with the service despite the complaint being considered through the landlord’s complaint process.

Each year, the Housing Ombudsman produces reports on landlords which have five or more findings against them following a Housing Ombudsman investigation. There are no landlord reports for the Council and no cases in 2025/6 were considered by the Housing Ombudsman.

Governing bodies response

“On 8 June 2026, Cabinet considered both the self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and the Annual Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report. As South Norfolk Council’s Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) and Portfolio Holder for Communities, I confirm that I have reviewed the Council’s self-assessment and am satisfied that it is comprehensive and robust. The Annual Complaint Performance and Service Improvement Report indicates that during 2025/26, two complaints were received in relation to services provided to residents in Council-owned homes. Both complaints were upheld, and appropriate and timely action was taken to address the issues identified and improve service delivery. This demonstrates clearly how resident feedback contributes to meaningful service improvement. I am satisfied that all complaints are managed appropriately and handled in a proactive, constructive, and positive manner.”