Council Tenants Unhappy With the Way GBC Handles Their Complaints

Published on: 21 Jan, 2025
Updated on: 21 Jan, 2025

The GBC webpage for tenants’ complaints

By Emily Dalton

local democracy reporter

Guildford council tenants are not happy with the way the council deals with complaints. People living in social housing have said they want the council to show a “little more care” in customer service, according to a new report.

New legislation was introduced in 2023 which required social landlords – such as councils, housing associations and other private registered providers – to generate and publish how satisfied tenants are with their landlord’s performance.

Overall satisfaction for Guildford Borough Council, which owns about 5,200 social housing properties, has plummeted below the national average for local authorities. Only 61 per cent of tenants (out of 596 respondents) said they were happy with the service.

Cllr Julia McShane

Lead councillor for housing, Julia McShane (Lib Dem Westborough), also the council leader, said: “The areas our tenants scored us lowest, have been used to inform our comprehensive and continuous Improvement Plan. This plan fully addresses these issues and concerns to ensure that all our tenants have a decent and well managed home.”

The survey, taken between June 21 and July 19 last year, found over 65 per cent of tenants said they were dissatisfied with the way Guildford Borough Council handles complaints. The main issues flagged to the council were: handling complaints, communications and customer service, as well as repairs and maintenance.

Cllr Howard Smith

Cllr Howard Smith (Lab, Westborough) said: “These results from the tenants survey are very disappointing, but not unexpected given all the issues in housing in Guildford over the last few years.

“We’ve seen a huge rise in complaints, an increase in the number of ‘voids’ (council homes left empty) and a growing number of residents waiting ever longer on our list for housing. And while Right to Buy continues to deplete our stock, we have built very few homes, almost none, to replace them.”

Only 22 per cent of tenants said they were satisfied with complaints handling, with over three times as many saying they were unhappy. This seemed a common trend with most social housing providers over the last year, according to the report.

Acuity, the independent research company, reported: “It is important that tenants feel confident that any complaint they make will be taken seriously and dealt with effectively and in good time.”

Only 41 per cent of tenants said they felt happy with the way the council listens and acts to their concerns, falling below the national average for local authorities at 55 per cent. Some said they wanted the council to show more support when they get in touch and return calls when they promise.

How the council handled repairs seemed a contentious issue with the subject attracting the most comments both positively (with some praising the workforce for their speed and quality) and negatively (with time taken to complete repairs and ‘forgotten’ works).

Less than half of tenants said they were happy with the state of their communal areas like the hallways, stairs, lounges or shared gardens. More could be done to deal with anti-social behaviour, as some said these issues can affect their enjoyment of their neighbourhoods.

The news follows the council’s self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing in July 2024 for “serious failings” over 1,700 homes without an updated electrical safety condition report and another 1,000 with unsatisfactory certificates. Guildford council leader Julia McShane previously said the council fully accepted the regulator’s findings.

In its attempts to improve tenants’ experience, Guildford Council has introduced a new Housing Operations Board which meets every other month or so. The local authority said it will “help provide a lot more opportunities for us to listen to our tenants, and act on their feedback to improve and shape our current and future services”.