English Rural is committed to providing quality services and support to all residents. If you are not entirely satisfied with our services, a robust Complaints Policy is in operation to help resolve any concerns you may have.
Service Requests
We encourage you to contact us if you need a service from us, such as reporting a repair, grounds maintenance issue, or another housing-related matter.
In many cases, issues can be resolved quickly when they are brought to our attention and without the need for a formal complaint. We will always aim to address service requests promptly and keep you informed of any actions being taken.
Where a concern relates to a request for service and we have not yet had the opportunity to put things right, we will normally seek to resolve the issue through our service request process first. However, where you tell us that you wish to make a complaint, or where there is evidence of a service failure, we will record the matter as a complaint in line with our Complaints Policy and Procedure.
Formal Complaints
If you wish to raise a formal complaint, or if we identify that a complaint should be recorded under our Complaints Policy and Procedure, we will log the complaint at Stage 1 of our complaints process.
We encourage residents to submit complaints in writing wherever possible, although complaints can be made in a variety of ways. We will aim to acknowledge, investigate and respond to complaints in line with the timescales set out in our Complaints Policy and Procedure.
Responsibility for investigating and resolving complaints will be assigned to the appropriate manager in consultation with the relevant Director. All complaints received by the Association will be recorded and monitored through our Complaints Register.
Complaints help us understand where things have gone wrong and identify opportunities to improve our services. We are committed to learning from complaints and using feedback to drive service improvements.
If, after receiving your Stage 1 response, you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you can request that your complaint is reviewed at Stage 2 in accordance with our Complaints Policy and Procedure and Resident Compensation Policy.
Please take a look at our Complaints Policy and Procedure for Residents for further information here. Please note that for non-residents we have a separate ‘Non-Resident Complaints Policy’, which can be found here.
If you have exhausted English Rural’s complaints process and you remain dissatisfied, you can refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service. More information on the Housing Ombudsman can be found on their website: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/
▶️ Click here to find a link to our latest self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
▶️ And click here to read our 2024/2025 Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report.
Anti-Social Behaviour
We handle concerns about neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour in line with our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and procedures. These cases are managed and monitored by our Regional Housing Managers and are investigated separately from the formal complaints process.
English Rural will not tolerate behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to others. Where appropriate, the Regional Housing Manager may work with partner agencies to adopt a coordinated approach to prevent and address anti-social behaviour.
Please contact the English Rural Customer Services Team or your Regional Housing Manager if you have concerns about anti-social behaviour. You can find our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy here.
Allocation Appeals
We recognise that there is a high demand for affordable housing and are committed to allocating properties fairly and in accordance with our Housing Allocation Policy and Procedure.
If you have applied for a property and have been unsuccessful, you have the right to appeal the allocation decision. Appeals must be submitted in writing within 14 days of receiving confirmation that your application has been unsuccessful.
Once a written appeal has been received, all relevant information relating to the application and appeal will be reviewed by the Allocations Panel in consultation with the Assistant Director of Customer Services. The Panel will consider the circumstances of the appeal and provide a written response outlining its decision within 14 days of receiving the appeal
Further details of the appeal process can be found in Section 4 of our Housing Allocation Policy.
Who is Responsible for Consumer Standards?
At English Rural, we are committed to meeting the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards and ensuring our residents can hold us to account.
Oversight of these standards is shared between our Board and senior leadership team.
Philip O’Dwyer, Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, is also our Lead Member Responsible for Complaints. He ensures that lessons from complaints and resident feedback are reported to the Board and used to improve how we deliver our services.
Kathryn Harrison, our Resident Services Director, is the Senior Officer Responsible for day-to-day compliance with the Consumer Standards. She oversees how we respond to residents, monitor performance, and embed service improvements. Kathryn is also our Property Health & Safety Lead.
Charlotte Priebe, our Assistant Director of Customer Services, is the Senior Officer Responsible for Complaints.
This governance structure ensures clear accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement across all areas of our work, in line with the expectations of the Regulator and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
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