Social housing issues
If you live in social housing, you have the right to make a comment or complaint about your landlord.
You need to bear in mind the following:
- you do not currently have any legal protection against eviction as a result of a complaint
- your landlord has to be aware of the complaint
- your landlord will be informed of any inspections carried out
- we can only help you improve your current housing conditions
- we have no influence on any application you may have for council housing
The steps you should take if there's a problem
1. Complain to your landlord
You should write to them as they should have a complaints procedure that you can follow. The Housing Ombudsman Service has some useful guidelines and an example letter that you can use.
2. Complain to a designated person
If you can't resolve the problem with your landlord, you can make a complaint to a ‘designated person’. This is a local councillor, your Member of Parliament (MP) or member of a tenant panel.
3. Housing Ombudsman
You can escalate your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman if you need to.
4. Ask Walsall Council for help
If you still cannot resolve the problem with your landlord, you can contact us. You will need to have made a formal complaint to your landlord before we can help you.
Help and support
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) offers advice that is:
- free
- confidential
- impartial
- independent
Advisors can help
- fill out forms
- write letters negotiate with creditors
- represent you at court or tribunal
When submitting your complaint, you may need to provide:
- your name
- your address
- your phone number
- number and ages of occupants
- name of the landlord
- address of the landlord
- phone number of the landlord
- type of benefits, if any, you claim
- description of the property (such as the number of bedrooms)
- date your tenancy began
- types of disrepair issues and their location (for example, mould growth in the bathroom)
