Compensation for Council tenants and leaseholders

Complaints and Compensation

The Council will always aim to remedy any complaint made by a Council tenant or leaseholder by providing practical remedies, such as carrying out repairs or correcting errors made. It is our policy that compensation will be considered as part of that process.

However, each case will be considered on its own merits and its particular circumstances. The scheme does not replace procedures for handling claims for compensation under our liability insurance. It is intended to provide small payments, without prejudice, in cases where service failure has resulted in undue distress, disturbance or annoyance for an extended period.

Compensation may be payable in situations where:

• There is a failure in service delivery due to staff errors and where this has been investigated and proven.
• A tenant, leaseholder or applicant experiences a failure in service or a loss of facilities that causes undue distress, disturbance or annoyance for an extended period.
• An officer or our agent, fails on two or more occasions to keep a mutually agreed appointment without cancelling in good time or giving reasonable notice to the resident.
• We have failed to carry out a repair. Compensation for repairs will only be payable where work is not completed within the target time, where all the points above have been taken into consideration and where the delay is not the resident's fault. Compensation should not exceed entitlement under the statutory right to repair.

Any compensation will be set off against any arrears or sub-account debt owed by the customer.

In considering whether compensation might be offered to customers, without prejudice, we will consider the circumstances of the individual case.

Consideration will be given to whether a payment should be made for time taken and trouble incurred by the complainant to get us to rectify problems. For example, the number of telephone calls or time taken off work. The complainant will be asked to provide proof, such as lost earnings or other expenses.

Compensation will not be paid if the complaint is about the amount or rent or service charges as these are matters of policy.

If a complaint gives rise to a claim under our liability insurance, then customers will not be considered for remedies under this policy.

Please note that we will not investigate a complaint, or we will discontinue an investigation of a complaint, if we have reasons to believe that a complaint is being pursued in a frivolous or vexatious manner.

Last update: 14/06/11