Housing complaints jump a third at Devon council

Increase at East Devon

Complaints by social housing tenants of a Devon council have jumped by a third with residents most angered about repairs.

A total of 276 complaints were lodged to East Devon District Council from its social housing tenants in the year to the beginning of April, up from 207 in the previous 12-month period.

The vast majority of the complaints – more than 8 in every 10 – related to repairs.

The council has acknowledged the “significant increase” in housing complaints in the past two years.

“The trends driving the complaints remain the same and these are related to the condition of properties; delays in carrying out repairs; quality of repairs; and communication challenges around appointments,” a report prepared for councillors states.

“The senior management team in housing are implementing a number of changes and bringing in new officers to better manage the volume of complaints coming into the service.”

While the number of complaints has risen, the council has around 4,100 social housing properties and carried out nearly 14,600 repair jobs in the year to the beginning of April.

Furthermore, out of the 276 housing-related complaints, only 96 went to stage 2, which means the complainant wasn’t happy with the council’s initial response.

“We are taking a ‘lessons learnt’ approach to how we deal with the complaints,” the report added.

“We have revised our approach to how we respond to complaints in order to demonstrate an open, honest approach to where things have gone wrong.

“We are providing customers with more information in relation to what learnings we have taken from the complaint they have raised and this is positively raising the profile of changes we are making across the service.”

It added it was now holding weekly meetings to discuss high-profile cases and complaints to ensure complex repairs were on track, and had embarked on further staff training to improve communication.

And it is expanding the sub-contractor network it currently has to ensure there are no unnecessary delay in completing works.