The Complaints Process

The complaints process can be used by tenants who live in an accredited property and believe the landlord is breaching the Unipol Code of Standards. 

Firstly, we will make sure that the complainant has raised the issues in writing with the landlord and has given them chance to respond. 

Next, with permission from the tenant, the Code and Complaints Investigator will write to notify the Landlord that there has been a Formal Complaint and they have 7 days to respond.  

If we’re concerned about the standards of the property itself, we’ll carry out an inspection.  We will work with both parties to try resolve the complaint and any breaches of the Code.

If this is not possible, then the complaint may be referred to a Code Tribunal. 

2021/2022 Complaints Data

From 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2022 the National Code received 161 complaints (compared with 320 at the same time in 2020/21) and the top 5 causes of complaint were:

Repairs / Condition of building	40
Delays ( admin / refunds / deposit)	22
Contractual / Rent / Legal (non code)	18
Inter-tenant Friction / ASB / Noise	14
Seeks release / Refund (COVID)	6

149 complaints have been resolved (116 by the supplier and 33 by the Investigator), and 12 cases remain open.

Complaints by Month 2021-2022
Month	Number of Complaints
September	15
October	17
November	15
December	12
January	11
February	18
March	14
April	11
May	10
June	6
July	18
August	14
Total	161

2020/2021 Complaints Data

From 1st September 2020 to 31st August 2021 the National Code Complaints and Enquiries received 320 complaints (compared with 276 at the same time in 2020) and the top 5 causes of complaint were:

Seeks release/refund	175
Repairs	26
Contract/rent	15
Condition upon arrival	14
Unprofessional behaviour	14

Complaints by Month 2020-2021	Number of Complaints
September	16
October	27
November	22
December	18
January	28
February	79
March	46
April	23
May	20
June	19
July	8
August	14
Total	320

Complaints about Coronavirus

On top of the normal code complaints, in 2020 the Code received approximately 120 additional contacts relating to coronavirus across all the Codes.  The vast majority of these were from National Code tenants and concerned rent refunds. 

The Codes don’t include any specific requirements pertaining to the contractual relationships between members and tenants, as these are governed by contract law. Nor do the Codes cover the handling of the pandemic.  However, the guidance was issued to enable Unipol to investigate complaints relating to Coronavirus if a Provider seemed to be acting unfairly or if an individual had exceptional circumstances that hadn’t been taken into account when providers were managing schemes for refunding rents or releasing tenants.