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. 

Current Complaints Data
2020-21	Number of Complaints
July	36
August	26
September	15
October	27
November	22
December	18
January 2021	20
Total	164

Summary of 2019-2020 Complaints Data
CODE	ENQUIRIES	COMPLAINTS	TOTAL	RESOLVED BY INVESTIGATOR	REFERED TO TRIBUNAL
Non- Educational Code	133	16	149	141	8
Educational Code	2	0	2	2	0
Total	135	16	151	143	8

Complaints about Coronavirus

On top of code complaints, this year we received approximately 120 additional contacts relating to coronavirus across all the Codes.  The vast majority of this was 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, which was unprecedented.  However, the complaints procedures were amended to enable Unipol to investigate complaints relating to Coronavirus if a Provider seemed to be acting unfairly or if an individual had truly exceptional circumstances that hadn’t been taken into account when providers were managing schemes for refunding rents or releasing tenants.

Summary of 2018-2019 Complaints Data
CODE	ENQUIRIES	COMPLAINTS	TOTAL
Non-Educational Code	83	18	101
Educational Code	2	0	2
Total	85	18	103