Video: How to make a complaint or raise a serious concern about a social landlord

Watch our video or read the text version below to find out how to raise a concern about a social landlord. You can find out more about how we work in our guide to how we regulate for tenants and service users. You can also watch our BSL video of this guide at the link below.

Updated

18 June 2024

Watch a BSL version of this video 

How to make a complaint or raise a serious concern about a social landlord

If you have a complaint about a social landlord, follow your landlord's complaints procedure.  
You can get this from your landlord or on its website. 
 
Follow the procedure to its end. 
 
If you're unhappy with how your landlord handled your complaint, contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO): 
 
Website: spso.org.uk 
Freephone: 0800 377 7330 
 
You can also report a serious concern. 
 
A serious concern is where a social landlord regularly and repeatedly fails to achieve the regulatory requirements for social housing; and this failure affects a group of the social landlord tenants.  

This could be:  

  • failing to consult with tenants on a rent increase 
  • consistently not doing repairs when it should 
  • not allowing tenants to apply for another house 
  • putting tenants’ safety at risk, for example because it is not doing gas safety checks when it should 
  • not responding formally to complaints 
  • not helping tenants to report anti-social behaviour 
  • not reporting its performance in achieving the outcomes and standards in the Scottish Social Housing Charter to its tenants 

If you have a serious concern about a social landlord you can report it to us. 

You can use the serious concerns reporting form available on our website to do this.  

You should:   

  • tell us what the issue is and why you believe the concern is serious,  
  • show how the problem affects a group of the social landlord tenants;  
  • and tell us how and when you raised it with the social landlord and how it responded; and why you believe the serious concern has not been resolved or resolved within a reasonable time. 

We may use our legal powers to act, if we need to, to protect your interests. 


Read more about us and what we do in How we regulate: A guide for tenants and service users

Watch a video about us to find out more about who we are and what we do