How we handle complaints

We know we won’t always get everything right.

If you’re unhappy with something we’ve done, or that we haven't done something that we should have, please tell us. We’ll listen to what’s happened, look into it, and do what we can to put things right.

Making a complaint won’t affect the service you receive from us. We want you to feel comfortable telling us when we could have done better.

Our complaints process has two stages. 

Your complaint journey

Most complaints are resolved at stage one, usually within 15 working days.

Stage one

  1. You tell us what's wrong

    The day you contact us

  2. We confirm we've got it

    Within 5 working days

  3. Our answer

    Within a further 10 working days. We'll explain what we found, what we're doing about it, and why. Most complaints end here

Stage two

  1. You ask us to review how we've handled your complaint

    If you think we've missed something or got it wrong

  2. Our final answer

    Within 20 working days

Stage one - Investigation of your complaint

  • Within 5 working days - we'll acknowledge that we've received your complaint and tell you who's dealing with it.
  • Within 10 working days of that - we'll send you our full response, explaining what we found and what we'll do to put things right.

That means you'll normally have our answer within 15 working days of complaining. If we need more time, we'll contact you to explain why and agree a new date.

Stage two - reviewing our response

If you think we've missed something or got something wrong, you can ask us to review our stage one response. You don't have to give a reason, though saying what you think we got wrong helps the reviewer focus on the right thing.

A different senior colleague, who wasn't involved in your stage one response, will look at how we handled your complaint: whether we understood what you told us, whether we looked into all of it, and whether our answer and anything we offered were right.

  • Within 5 working days - we'll confirm we've received your request.
  • Within 20 working days of that - we'll send you our final response.

If we need longer, we'll tell you why and give you a new date to expect a response.

This is the last stage of our complaints process.

Housing Ombudsman

The Ombudsman is free, independent and impartial, and you can contact them directly at any time:

You can also ask your MP or local councillor for support with your complaint at any time.

How we learn from complaints

Complaints offer us the chance to reflect and to investigate areas where our services aren't keeping the high standards we expect.

We will take the learning from the mistakes we make to ensure we continually improve our services and the things that are important to customers.   

Colleagues right across Bromford are involved in managing, responding and reporting on complaints, including our board, executive team and senior managers. 

Customers are also involved, through our Customer and Community Influence Network which receives regular reports on our complaints performance and helps us to complete regular self-assessments against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. 

More information

If you have a general enquiry or you’re chasing an update, you'll get a faster response by getting in touch with us.

For more details, you can read our complaints and compliments policy.

You can also read our annual complaints performance report in the resources section of this page. 

Submit a complaint

Are you a Bromford customer? *


Do you need any reasonable adjustments or support to help you during the complaints process? * For example, you might need information in a different format, more time to respond, or someone to act on your behalf.


Complaints reports and resources

About our group structure

All our policies, self-assessments and governing body responses have been approved by our Board and apply to all parts of the Bromford Flagship group. This includes Bromford Flagship Limited, Bromford Housing Association Limited, Bromford Home Ownership Limited and Merlin Housing Society Limited (which use the name Bromford), and Flagship Housing Limited (which uses the name Flagship). When we say Bromford Flagship in this document, we mean all of these organisations.

Samphire/Victory/Newtide and Flagship Homes are also trading names of Flagship Housing Limited, and these documents also apply equally to customers of those housing divisions.