Operating a complaints system for building safety in a high-rise residential building
Duties and responsibilities of the principal accountable person.
Applies to England
Purpose of a complaints system
As the principal accountable person (PAP) for a high-rise residential building you must establish and operate a complaints system. The system must allow residents, and other users of the building, to raise a relevant complaint.
A high-rise residential building has at least:
- 7 storeys or is at least 18 metres high
- 2 residential units
The building must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator before people live there. These buildings are known as higher-risk buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Relevant complaints
A relevant complaint involves:
- structural failure and spread of fire (building safety risks)
- the performance of an AP
It may be helpful to include examples of what a relevant complaint is for your complaints process. You might want to consider setting out the difference between a relevant complaint and a service or maintenance request.
Keeping a record of relevant complaints
The PAP must keep a record of any relevant complaint for 7 years showing:
- the information contained in the complaint
- steps taken by any AP for the higher-risk building in response to the complaint
- any involvement of the regulator in relation to or in response to the complaint
- the outcome of the complaint
Recurring relevant complaints
If more than one relevant complaint is made about the same issue within a 7-year timeframe, this is known as a recurring relevant complaint. For each recurring relevant complaint, the PAP must keep at least one of the following:
- the subject and nature of the recurring complaint
- the date that the recurring complaint was made
What your complaints system must do
The complaints system should help you to treat all issues raised impartially and fairly. Residents and other building users should not be afraid of telling you about issues.
You should involve and consult with your residents when establishing your complaints process. Your resident engagement strategy can help you with this.
You must tell residents and others:
- what a relevant complaint is
- how to raise issues
- how the issues will be dealt with
- how long it will take to investigate issues
- when they should expect responses at specific stages and what they will cover
- how you will collect and store information in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
You need to describe how and when issues can be taken to BSR, providing contact details to allow those raising issues to be escalated.
Those raising an issue must be able to challenge responses, and you should tell them how they can do this. When necessary, residents can appoint a representative to raise an issue for them.
If you have an existing complaints system, you can adapt it to include these types of issues. You do not need to create a separate process for building safety risks or the performance of an AP.
You should consider consulting with residents on any changes to your system.
Complaints policy
You must publish a complaints policy which explains to residents what a relevant complaint is. It should set out your general approach to issues raised and how your complaints system will work. You should explain how you will manage issues raised. It should clearly say who does what, when and how.
Having a policy can help you tell others about your complaints system. You need to share information about how the system works with:
- residents
- other users of the building
- other APs
- BSR
After you have prepared your policy
You must:
- establish and operate a complaint handling system (if a suitable process is not already in place)
- act in accordance with the process
- provide the latest version to each AP and all residents in the building
- make sure other APs understand and use the process
- treat issues raised impartially and fairly
- reply to the complainant letting them know if the issues raised are accepted or rejected
You will need to provide a copy of your policy when requested by BSR.
The PAP and APs must work together so that issues are dealt with on time and to the satisfaction of those raising them.
How you receive complaints
Be clear about how issues can be raised. Consider if issues can be raised via email, telephone, online and in person. You must make information about your system easily available and accessible to people. This information must be displayed clearly within the building, such as the lobby.
You should consider what to do if residents find it difficult to describe an issue, but could submit, for example, photo or video evidence that helps communicate their concerns. Your policy should set out what you can do if someone needs information in a different language or in alternative format. For example, large text, easy read, braille, or audio. Working with residents to find ways of accessing information that better suits them will help you comply with equality law.
How to handle complaints
You should explain who will investigate. During an investigation, the PAP or those appointed to respond to issues, must:
- reply to the person raising an issue, letting them know if it has been accepted as a relevant complaint, or rejected
- decide the best way to investigate
- have a way to track the progress of the investigation
You need to prioritise issues based on the risks identified rather than on the order you received them in.
Be clear about how many stages your complaints process consists of and who is responsible at each stage.
Requests for further information
PAPs should have a way to provide any information that is asked for as soon as possible. When providing requested information, you must not breach data protection regulations or any restrictions on disclosure.
Timings and deadlines
Set out time frames for acknowledging that you’ve received a complaint and for responding in full for each stage of the process. You should consider having a system to track the progress of issues raised.
If an investigation or response might take longer than the times expected, you should tell the complainant the reasons for the delay or the extension.
Responding to a complaint
You should ensure that responses to issues raised use simple language and are in a format which the complainant can understand.
A response must:
- address all of the issues that were raised
- provide reasons for any decisions made
- detail actions that have been carried out or are planned, with time frames when these will be completed
Rejecting a complaint
Set out the criteria that you will use when deciding whether to reject a complaint. You should consider:
- the factors that make up the complaint
- if it meets the definition of a relevant complaint
- if the issues raised have already been investigated
- if it is added information for a previously raised issue
Escalation and disputes
When a complainant choses to challenge your response or decision, you must:
- review your original response
- consider if there are further concerns that need addressing
The PAP and the AP must work with complainants to reach an outcome where everyone is satisfied. You need to decide how and when to close the matter.
An issue relating to structural failure and spread of fire (building safety risks) or the performance of an AP, can be referred to BSR with the complainant’s consent when:
- an agreement cannot be reached between the PAP and the AP
- there is no satisfactory outcome after a final response is given
- the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome
Updates to this page
Last updated 27 March 2024 + show all updates
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Added information about keeping records for relevant complaints and recurring relevant complaints.
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First published.