Metra Living Complaints Policy

1. Purpose and approach

1.1 We aim to provide our residents with good quality homes and services. We recognise that sometimes things don’t go to plan, and where this happens we want to put things right as quickly as possible.

1.2 This policy has been written in line with the Property Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles, and our commitment to our residents to deliver reliable, repeatable and consistent services. We aim to:

Be fair – We will treat people fairly and follow fair process, keeping you updated with progress

·      Be objective – making sure that your complaint is dealt with impartially at every stage.

·      Put things right – we will try to get you back to the position you would have been in if the issue had not occurred. We will acknowledge and apologise if we made a mistake, or if our service failed. We will provide you with an explanation of what went wrong if we were at fault (including anyone working on our behalf).

·      Be consistent – We will reimburse or compensate residents in line with our approved policies and processes.

·      Learn from outcomes – we will analyse what we learn from complaints and use the information to keep improving our services.

2. Definitions and scope

2.1. In line with the Property Ombudsman’s definition, the definition of a complaint under this policy is an expression of dissatisfaction about the actions, lack of action, or standard of service provided by a registered property business or agent. The word ‘complaint’ does not have to be used for us to log and handle it in line with this policy.

2.2. Matters that can lead to a complaint include where:

·      We fail to meet our legal or contractual duties, promises or standards we have set

·      We do something wrong, poorly, or fail to do something we should have done

·      We have been unhelpful or impolite

2.3. We encourage you tell us immediately if you have a complaint so that we can resolve this quickly for you.

2.4. We will never unreasonably refuse to accept, or escalate, a complaint in line with this policy. Occasionally even where the word complaint is used this may not meet the definition of a complaint under this policy (see 2.5 below). If we believe the matter is unsuitable for the complaints process, we will always provide you with a clear and valid reason for our decision, and the right to take the matter to the Property Ombudsman. (For contact details see section 12). Where a matter is outside of the Property Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, we may instead suggest you use an alternative method of resolution, such as another Ombudsman or Regulator.

2.5. There are a few matters that we do not usually consider to be complaints. These include where:

·      The same matter has already been considered under our complaints process (The Property Ombudsman can be contacted for further escalation where our own process has already been followed to its end)

·      The complaint is over 12 months old, or you have been aware of it for over 12 months and have not reported to us, unless there are exceptional circumstances (see 2.11)

·      You are making a first request for a repair, service, action or information. Or where your request is still being dealt with in line with our stated standards and timescales. We do record these, but as a service request rather than a complaint, and will follow the relevant policy and procedure to resolve them. If you aren’t happy with our response to your service request we can raise a complaint, and we’ll continue to address your service request while the complaint is investigated.

Note: A service request is defined as ‘A service request is a request from a resident to the landlord requiring action to be taken to put something right. Service requests are not complaints, but must be recorded’.

·      Note: Dissatisfaction is not always a complaint. We do not automatically record such feedback as a complaint, but we may follow it up.

·      It is a complaint about another resident. For example, a report of anti-social behaviour. Instead, a member of Property Management will be able to help you with this type of request. (We will accept complaints where you are unhappy with how we handled your ASB case).

·      The matter you are complaining about is a service that Metra Living do not provide or where another organisation has the responsibility. We will signpost you to another organisation where this forms all or a part of your complaint, but we’ll assist you where we can – for example when dealing with a managing agent, broadband provider or any other service where the resident hold a contract directly with the provider the complaint must be raised directly with that provider.

We will cooperate with any investigation by the other party to resolve a complaint, for example, where an accountable person from another organisation needs our input. (We will always deal with any matters that remain our responsibility by resolving a service issue or opening a complaint).

·      Legal proceedings against us are in progress. This is defined as details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, having been filed at court. (See 3.2 for information about Disrepair). Legal liability such as insurance claims are also excluded.

·      It may be more appropriate for another agency to deal with a matter where they have the power to resolve it, such as a First Tier Tribunal. If so we may direct you to this alternative route. We can still record a complaint, but may close this where you indicate you wish to follow that route.

·      Another policy has a built-in appeal process, which would be more suitable to use. We will direct you to this process as an alternative way of resolving the matter, but we will still accept a complaint if you ask us to do so.

2.6. The following people can make complaints for handling under this policy:

·      A person who is or who has been in a direct landlord/tenant relationship with us. This includes people who have a lease, tenancy, licence to occupy, service agreement or other arrangement to occupy premises we own or manage. If an ex-occupier makes the complaint, they must have had a legal relationship with Metra Living at the time that the matter, which is the subject of the complaint, arose.

·      An applicant for a property owned or managed by Metra Living.

·      A representative or advocate of any of the people above, who is authorised by them to make a complaint on their behalf. This may include a Councillor or MP, or third-party advocate. We will require written permission following data protection measures, when disclosing any information to a third party, and will ensure the resident is kept informed. Note: Our response timeframes may need to be adjusted to allow sufficient time for the authorisation to be verified.

·      A representative of those listed above, where they are unable to authorise someone to act on their behalf. For example, where someone has been awarded power of attorney for a person lacking capacity. We will ensure we are satisfied that the representative has the legitimate authority to act on the person’s behalf. We recognise a customer may also wish to be accompanied by such a representative at a meeting with us.

·      A person with authority to make a complaint on behalf of any of the people above who are deceased.

2.7. There may be exceptions to those above that we will consider at our discretion. For example, where a third party such as neighbour to one of our properties, or a tenant of one of our leaseholders, raises a concern that could impact on the health, safety, or wellbeing of our residents, or has a concern regarding action/inaction by us.

2.8. For complaints about structural or fire building safety in higher risk buildings see section 5. (Note: the scope is wider for who can make such a complaint).

2.9. For complaints made by a group of people, see section 6.

2.10. We are unable to investigate anonymous complaints under this policy, as there will be insufficient information for us to follow our process. However, we may still be able to pass the information to the manager responsible for the day-to-day service for action. We would do so, for example, if it relates to safeguarding concerns or reports of tenancy fraud.

2.11. We ask you to report problems to us promptly for us to be able to investigate thoroughly and put things right. While most complaints will be made within a few days or weeks of a matter occurring, others may take a little longer, but usually by no more than 12 months of the issue. We understand there may be exceptional circumstances that stopped the complaint from being raised earlier, so each case will be considered on its own merit.

2.12. How you can make a complaint

A complaint does not need to be made in writing. It can be made to us in a number of ways which include:

By phone: 0345 0340 222

By email: feedback@metraliving.co.uk

By post:

Metra Living Fifth Floor

29-35 West Ham Lane Stratford

London E15 4PH

In person, directly to any of our colleagues

Online and Social Media:

Completing the on-line complaints form at www.metraliving.co.uk.

Via social media – Metra Living Facebook or X

2.13. Metra Living does not currently have social media accounts that could accommodate complaint submission but reserves the right to introduce them at any time. If Metra Living decides to do so, any complaints received via social media will be actioned via this policy in the same manner as all other complaints received.

2.14. Directly addressed requests

All correspondence and communications directed or addressed to an individual member of staff, our Executive Team, or Board member, will be logged and managed in line with our complaints process. This approach helps to ensure that information is properly recorded and that everyone receives a fair and consistent service.

3. Legislation, regulation and good practice

3.1. We regularly review this policy, and the processes that support it, to ensure it complies with relevant legislation and regulation. This list isn’t exhaustive but includes:

·      The Property Ombudsman

·      Data Protection Act 2018

·      Building Safety Act 2022

3.2. Disrepair - Our approach follows the Property Ombudsman guidance on Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Condition Claims and Service Complaints (Disrepair). Before we accept a disrepair claim we will manage these cases through alternative dispute resolution avenues using the complaints process.

4. The Complaints process

4.1. Our complaints process has two stages:

·      Stage 1: Initial Investigation - involves an investigation by the relevant person/department best placed to resolve your complaint. They are responsible for discussing and understanding the complaint with you and agreeing an action plan with you to resolve it.

·      Stage 2: Final Review - If you are unhappy with our response, you can ask us to escalate to the second stage, where a Final Review will be conducted by someone who wasn’t involved in the initial investigation.

4.2. We will provide a named complaint handler who you can contact to send information, make comments, or discuss your complaint at any stage. You will be given a complaint reference which you can use in any communications.

4.3. If at any stage you have any additional needs or circumstances which you want to make us aware of, please let us know. That way when we investigate your complaint, we’ll try to make suitable adjustments, where we can, so you can use our complaints service fairly. For example, if you have a visual or hearing impairment you may need us to use large print or use an interpreter. Or if you are unwell you may want to give us your permission to contact someone else in your behalf (See section 10).

Initial Investigation – Complaint investigation and resolution

4.4. When we receive your complaint, we’ll acknowledge, define and log it. The complaint handler may need to contact you to talk through your complaint to make sure we’ve understood the issues, the impact they’ve had on you, the outcome you are seeking, confirm what aspects we are or are not responsible for, and clarify anything where needed to help us to resolve your complaint.

4.5. The written acknowledgement will also set out our understanding of your complaint, the outcomes you are seeking and which aspects we are or are not responsible for. We will acknowledge your complaint no longer than 3 working days from the date we received it.

4.6. We will investigate all elements of your complaint. Where you raise additional points, we’ll try to incorporate these into our stage one response. If the new points are a related issue which would delay the response, we will agree with you whether to log as a new complaint, or to extend the time (see 4.8). If the response has already been issued we will log any new issues you raise as a new complaint. If the issue is unrelated, we will log a new complaint.

4.7. We will send you our written decision within 15 working days of your complaint being acknowledged. (See 4.5). Our response will contain the outcome of our investigation, how we intend to resolve your complaint, and timescales.

4.8. If we need more time to reach a decision, we will explain why and write to you again before we send the response above. The extension should be no more than 10 working days. We won’t ask for an extension without good reason. If there are exceptional circumstances where we realise we will need longer than usual, we will ask if you agree to this, agreeing suitable intervals to update you on the progress of your complaint. You may also contact the Property Ombudsman for guidance.

4.9. After confirming our decision in writing, we will monitor progress until all outstanding actions are complete. This means we will provide our decision when the answer to the complaint is known, not when all outstanding actions are complete. Note: If we need to contact you to update you on these later actions, you may be contacted by a different team to the one who provided the complaint decision. However, your complaint reference remains the same.

Final Review – review and resolution

4.10. If you do not agree with the outcome of your complaint, or the actions proposed to resolve it, you may decide to escalate it to second stage of our complaints process for our final response. You are required to provide a written reason(s) for asking for the complaint to be escalated.

4.11. We won’t escalate a complaint until the Initial Investigation decision has been provided. We ask that you try to let us know promptly if you are unhappy so that we have an opportunity to put things right for you. We expect you to be able to escalate your complaint within 12 months of the Initial Review decision.

4.12. When we receive your complaint escalation, we’ll acknowledge, define and log it. The complaint handler may need to contact you to talk through your complaint to make sure we’ve understood the issues, the impact they’ve had on you, the outcome you are seeking, confirm what we are and are not responsible for, and clarify anything where needed to help us to resolve your complaint.

4.13. The written acknowledgement will also set out our understanding of the escalation of your complaint, the outcomes you are seeking and which aspects we are or are not responsible for. We will acknowledge your escalation within 3 working days from the date its received.

4.14. The Final Review is not usually a reinvestigation, but rather a review of actions and decisions taken at the Initial Investigation to check they were thorough, reasonable and fair. A manager or someone who wasn’t involved at the first stage of the complaints process, will carry out a review of the complaint. This will involve carefully considering all the relevant information, and contacting you to give you the opportunity to explain your viewpoint.

4.15. We will send you our written decision within 15 working days of your escalated complaint being acknowledged (See 4.13).

4.16. If we need more time to reach a decision, we will explain why and write to you again before we send the response above. The extension should be no more than 20 working days. If there are exceptional circumstances where we realise we will need longer, we will ask if you agree to this, agreeing suitable intervals for you to be updated on the progress of your complaint. You may also contact the Property Ombudsman.

4.17. After confirming our decision in writing, we will monitor progress until all outstanding actions are complete. This means we will provide our decision when the answer to the complaint is known, not when all outstanding actions are complete. Note: If we need to contact you to update you on these later actions, you may be contacted by a different team to the one who provided the complaint decision. However, your complaint reference remains the same.

4.18. If your complaint cannot be resolved at Final Review or you have not received a Final Review response to your complaint, you can approach the Property Ombudsman to escalate your complaint. (For escalation of Building Safety complaints see 5.7).

5. Building Safety complaints

5.1. This section is limited in scope to buildings owned and managed by Metra Living to which building safety cases currently apply, and to the matters defined below.

5.2. A complaint will be accepted as a building safety complaint, under Section 93 of the Building Safety Act 2022, if the issue raised in the complaint is about:

·      structural failure and spread of fire (building safety risks)

·      the performance of an accountable person with regard to their duties

5.3. Anyone can make a complaint about how we manage fire and structural safety in a higher-risk building (under this section of the Act). This includes a resident or anyone visiting or working in the building (e.g. contractors, postman).

5.4. These complaints will be managed under our usual complaint process.

5.5. Prioritisation

The Building Safety legislation requires that: “there is an effective process for the prioritisation of relevant complaints taking account of the level of risk involved”.

While we are confident that applying and meeting our existing timescales for complaints will usually be appropriate for building safety complaints, we acknowledge that some matters need to be dealt with more quickly than the usual complaint timescale. This is already the case, for urgent matters of health and safety, for example where a repair may need to be urgently undertaken before the complaint response is complete. For the avoidance of doubt, we are clarifying here that if we assess there’s a risk, we may respond/partially respond to a complaint/ element of a building safety complaint more quickly.

5.6. Additional representations and comments

The Building Safety legislation requires us to state ‘how a complainant can make representations and comments on any findings during an investigation’. However, it also requires responses to be dealt with in a timely way.

This complaints policy explains that we may contact a complainant to confirm that we understand the issues being raised. It allows for additional complaints or information to be raised before a response has been issued, and where this would unreasonably

delay the response that we may open an additional complaint, or agree a time extension. We can confirm we also use this approach for Building Safety complaints.

5.7. Escalation

If you are not satisfied with our final response, as well as referring the complaint to the Property Ombudsman, you may also approach the Building Safety Regulator. (See contact details in section 12). With your consent, we may also refer the complaint to the regulator ourselves.

6. Group complaints and petitions

6.1. This section sets out how residents and their community can submit a complaint or petition as a group about the same issue, and how we will respond. We welcome feedback which helps us to highlight concerns within a local area.

6.2. Group complaints/petitions can be submitted by anyone but there should be a lead person identified, and it will be the lead contact’s responsibility to ensure that any submission is completed under the principle of good faith, decency, honesty, and respect.

6.3. Group complaints/petitions need to include the following:

·      a minimum of 2 signatures from 2 separate households

·      a clear and concise statement covering the subject; the issues which led to the creation of the complaint; the actions we are requested to take

·      contact details for the lead contact

·      the name, address, postcode, and signature of every individual supporting the complaint to confirm that everyone has given their permission to be part of the complaint, and

·      the date the complaint is submitted.

6.4. If it appears that individuals are raising different issues or they have specific concerns that it would be more appropriate to address with an individual privately, we may record and manage these as separate complaints. We will check with you and let you know if so. Likewise, we recognise the impact of the issue raised may not be the same for every member of the group, and we will consider this in our response and any proposed action.

6.5. The group complaint should be submitted by email or post. (For contact information please see 2.12).

6.6. We will send an acknowledgement to the lead contact within three working days, with a complaint reference number and the name of the investigating officer.

6.7. If the lead is not identified in the letter or petition, we will contact the first signatory, to identify the lead contact.

6.8. The complaint will be referred to an investigating officer who will:

·      co-ordinate the process

·      carry out the investigation

·      conduct research

·      prepare the response

·      discuss findings with the lead contact (where necessary)

·      arrange for the response to be sent to the lead contact on behalf of the group
 

6.9. Group complaints will follow the same escalation for complaints stages, as detailed earlier.

6.10. Conditions and Exceptions

·      We will in normal circumstances, accept any group complaint on face value but we reserve the right to verify the signatures or investigate further if we believe it is necessary.

·      If we consider the complaint to be discriminatory, abusive or otherwise inappropriate, or unreasonable, it will be rejected, and the lead contact advised in writing.

·      If a group complaint is about something that relates to the responsibilities of another organisation, for example a local authority, we will you know if we cannot deal with it and will signpost you to the relevant organisation to deal with through their processes. We will advise the lead contact of this in writing. (See 2.5)

7. Unreasonable behavior

7.1. Occasionally, we may be contacted by someone who is abusive to us, or who is behaving unreasonably. For example:

·      Making repeated complaints about the same issue which has already gone through all stages of our complaints process

·      Keep changing what their complaint is about.

·      Be unwilling to accept documented evidence.

·      Threaten to be/are physically violent or verbally abuse towards staff or those working in our behalf.

·      Continual phone calls, emails, or letters without allowing reasonable time for response.

7.2. Everyone should expect to be treated with courtesy and respect, including our colleagues. We understand that people may act out of character when they are distressed, upset or unwell. However, aggressive and abusive behaviour or verbal abuse directed at our colleagues or those that represent us will not be tolerated.

7.3. We reserve the right to refuse to deal with complaints, or to deal with them differently, if a complainant acts unreasonably, or where multiple requests require us to deal with these in a more effective way. This may include, but is not limited to, contact restrictions. We will always let you know if we will be dealing with a request differently, and the reason why. If a restriction is put in place, we will keep this under regular review. If a complaint has already been through both stages of our complaints process we will remind you of your right to approach the Property Ombudsman.

8. Confidentiality

8.1. We are committed to protecting your right to confidentiality and privacy. We have a duty of care towards keeping your information safe and secure in line with data protection legislation and our data protection policy.

8.2. We treat all complaints confidentially. Even where someone is advocating for you, we will check we have your permission before sharing information. (See 2.6)

8.3. We will always anonymise complaints before reporting.

9.1. This policy will be implemented through our internal procedures, which includes systems for recording and monitoring complaints.

9.2. We monitor complaint numbers, outcomes, satisfaction, and try to identify trends and root causes so we can address weaknesses and opportunities to do things better. As well as our own complaints analysis we also use opportunities to compare ourselves with other organisations. For example, where the Property Ombudsman produce case studies, spotlight reports, and highlights examples of good practice. All of this information can help us to make improvements to our policies and processes.

9.3. We monitor and report extensively, from individual and team meetings, to reports for senior management and our Board.

10. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

10.1. As a responsible landlord, Metra Living take our duties seriously in line with the Equality Act 2010. This includes trying to make reasonable adjustments for people using our services.

10.2. When we receive your complaint, we’ll check if you have any additional needs or circumstances which we’ll need to consider as we investigate your complaint. We understand that things change, so we appreciate you keeping us up to date so that we can respond effectively, and make adjustments where possible, to make sure you can use our complaints service fairly.

10.3. You may request this policy in an accessible format, such as large print.

10.4. Other examples, of what we are able to do include using an interpreter, communicating with an advocate where you request it, and being flexible around response timeframes.

11.1. We will publish our Complaints Policy and information about the Property Ombudsman on Metra Living’s website. We also publish any additional information of note regarding our Complaints policy and processes on our website.

11.2. We include contact details for the Ombudsman in this policy and in our complaint correspondence.

11.3. We aim to ensure that everyone in Metra Living understands the importance of resolving complaints. All Metra Living colleagues receive complaint awareness training as part of their induction and then have regular refreshers. Our complaints policy and related materials are also published internally and accessible to all colleagues. Complaints handlers receive specific and regular training as part of their role, including access to a learning hub for updates and good practice information.

Property Ombudsman

The Property Ombudsman can be approached by residents throughout the life of a complaint. If the complaint remains unresolved at the end of Stage Two, customers can contact them to request a review.

The Property Ombudsman Unit 159756,

PO Box 7169,

Poole, BH15 9EL

Tel: 01722 333306

Email: admin@tpos.co.uk Web: www.tpos.co.uk

Consumer Credit Regulated Activity

Complaints about welfare benefits advice can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied with our response.

The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower

Harbour Exchange Square London

E14 9GE

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk Web: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber – Residential Property)

Customers can apply if they are a landlord, tenant, freeholder, or leaseholder. The cases that can be considered include:

·      Rent increases for fair or market rates

·      Leasehold disputes e.g. variable service charges

·      Leasehold enfranchisement e.g. extending a lease

Contact details: https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/first-tier-tribunal-property-chamber

Building Safety Regulator

Complaints about structural or fire building safety in higher-risk buildings. At any point through the complaint process, the Building Safety Regulator can be contacted using the details below to discuss options available.

Tel - 0300 790 6787

Health and Safety Executive Redgrave Court Merton Road

Bootle Merseyside L20 7HS

Web: www.contact-building-safety-regulator.service.gov.uk