Problems when you rent from a council or housing association

The council or housing association must meet certain standards when they rent a property to you.

You can make an official complaint if they fail to meet these standards or you’re unhappy about something.

Standards the council or housing association must meet

The council or housing association must meet standards in the Scottish Social Housing Charter.

This includes things like:

  • quality of housing
  • repairs, maintenance and improvements
  • value for money, rents and service charges

They are monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator. The regulator produces reports on how different councils and housing associations are performing.

If they do not meet these standards, you can make a complaint or report them to the regulator.

Get more information on the Scottish Social Housing Charter on the Scottish Housing Regulator website.

Making a complaint

Follow the council or housing associations complaints procedure. This should tell you: 

  • how to make a complaint
  • how long the council or housing association have to respond 
  • how to escalate the complaint if you’re unhappy with their response

If making a complaint does not work

You can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The ombudsman can investigate and order the council or housing association to put things right.

Before going to the ombudsman, you must have completed the complaints procedure with the council or housing association.

Check how to complain on the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman website.

If the problem affects other tenants

You can raise a concern to the Scottish Housing Regulator when both:

  • the problem you’re complaining about affects other tenants
  • you’ve all made complaints about the issue to the council or housing association

For example, you can raise a concern when the council or housing association repeatedly:

  • does not do gas safety checks
  • does not consult tenants on a rent increase
  • does not help tenants with antisocial behaviour complaints

Get more information on raising a concern on the Scottish Housing Regulator website.

Getting advice about making a complaint

You can get free independent advice from: 

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