08 March 2024
Jump to:
- How to make a Formal Complaint
- The Property Ombudsman Service
- Building Safety Regulator
- Energy Complaints
- Get in touch
Your feedback matters
Your thoughts and feelings are important.
We welcome customer feedback at any time. It helps us to understand how well we are doing and where we may need to make further improvements to our service.
We always strive for excellence, but sometimes things can go wrong or you may feel that we have not met your needs fully or in the way that you would have liked.
If this should ever happen, please get in touch with your Property or Development Manager.
For some issues, we will let you know what we can do or put you in touch with someone else who may be able to help, such as Citizens Advice Bureau, your local authority or trades people.
We know that making a complaint can be stressful, so we aim to make the experience as simple and straightforward as possible.
Our three-step process will help us to review and resolve your concerns quickly, fairly and fully.
1. How to make a Formal Complaint
Stage 1. Formal complaint
You can raise a formal complaint by completing the form below, making sure that you clearly state that you are formally raising a complaint. If needed, you can ask any FirstPort member of staff to submit the complaint on your behalf. We strive to acknowledge your complaint by email or in writing within 5 working days. However, please note that response times may be longer during busy periods or public holidays.
No matter how you get in touch with us, we ask that you provide us with:
- Your contact details or account number – we may have to contact you in order to get more information in order to resolve your issue.
- Background information on the issue.
- The impact the issue is having on you.
- Your preferred resolution.
The fastest way to get a complaint resolved is between you and your Property or Development Manager. If they have already had discussions with you, we’ll then investigate your complaint in detail.
In most cases, we should be able to complete our investigations and fully reply to you within 20 working days. If we think it will take longer, we will let you know and tell you when we expect to complete our review.
Stage 2. Final review
If you are unhappy with the response to your formal complaint, please respond to us, clearly advising that you are now seeking a Stage 2 complaint review and the reasons for your dissatisfaction.
Most Stage 2 complaints will be reviewed by a member of the Senior Management team or a complaints panel.
If we cannot reach agreement with you, this will usually be referred to the Ombudsman as a deadlock situation requiring an independent review.
You will normally receive our final response in writing within four weeks. If we feel we need more time or information to reach a suitable conclusion, we will let you know when you can expect us to get back to you.
Stage 3. External review of complaint
We always try to fully resolve concerns ourselves. If we cannot do so and have reached deadlock (or more than 8 weeks has elapsed since your complaint was first made), you can seek a free and independent review of our actions within the next 12 months. We will advise you of your options in our Stage 2 response, but most complaints will be referred to The Property Ombudsman Service (TPOS) or the Building Safety Regulator – we will let you know whether the Ombudsmen or Regulator is the appropriate external review.
2. The Property Ombudsman Service
This is an independent body who deals with property-related complaints for many different organisations in the UK. See below for details of how to contact them. Please note that the Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about perceived value for money, which (for leasehold properties only) would instead need to be considered by the First Tier Tribunal of the Property Chamber in England or a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal in Wales.
The Ombudsman service does not deal with any complaints that are subject to court proceedings or which they consider to be malicious or unjustified. They will be happy to clarify if they are able to review your complaint for you following our Stage 2 response.
We fully respect the independence of these bodies and will always honour their rulings. We pay the cost of all cases heard by TPOS, so there are no charges for you, either personally or through your development’s service charge. However, other tribunals/forums may require you to pay an up-front case fee. For more information about the Property Ombudsman Service, click here.
3. Building Safety Regulator
Where your complaint is regarding fire safety or structural safety the external review will be via the Building Safety Regulator. Please see the Higher Risk Building section for explanation.
How to contact The Property Ombudsman Service
- Telephone: 01722 333 306
- Email: admin@tpos.co.uk
- Post: The Property Ombudsman Service, Milford House, 43-55 Milford Street, Salisbury SP1 2BP · Website: Visit The Property Ombudsman Service website here.
Complaints process for higher risk buildings in England
A higher risk building is a building that is more seven storeys or 18 meters in height, whichever is reached first. These buildings are registered with the Building Safety Regulator and follow the Regulator’s building safety regime regarding fire and structural safety.
All of our teams are aware of which buildings are higher risk buildings and will reference this within our replies.
Complaints for higher risk buildings that are considered ‘relevant complaints’ for the Regulator to externally review will be handled by the Building Safety Regulator not The Property Ombudsman Service. This applies to the following topics:
- Fire safety
- Structural safety
- The performance of the accountable person
If the complaint doesn’t refer to the above topics (i.e. is not classed by the Building Safety Regulator as a relevant complaint), you may still raise the complaint with The Property Ombudsman Service for review under their criteria.
Please raise complaints regarding higher risk buildings with us in the same way as any other complaint. If this is considered to be a relevant complaint, as defined by the Building Safety Act, then we shall advise this within our response.
Our timelines for responding to your complaint will be the same as that stated in our published complaints’ procedure.
Where FirstPort is not an Accountable Person or Principal Accountable Person, we may need to request that you raise your complaint with the Accountable Person or Principal Accountable Person – this is usually your building owner / landlord or a Resident Management Company. Where this is necessary, we will advise.
How to contact the Building Safety Regulator
- Telephone: 0300 790 6787
- Website: Contact the Building Safety Regulator – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), Building Safety Regulator – Building safety – HSE
Independent advice
LEASE (The Leasehold Advisory Service) offers FREE advice on the law affecting residential leasehold in England and Wales. It is totally independent and is funded by Government.
- Post: Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX
- Website: Visit Lease Advice here.
4. Energy Complaints
Get in touch
We have appointed an Energy Manager who is trained to resolve energy complaints and address any challenges you may face. With extensive knowledge in areas such as energy procurement conversion to metering and billing, they are available to help with any issue that may occur. To make sure our Energy Manager is able to take full ownership of your concerns, we provide regular refresher training and offer one-on-one support so they can tackle even the most complex matters.
Our Energy Manager is available to help you with any energy-related issues regarding your account, such as:
- Producing new bills and re-billing accounts
- Providing refunds
- Evaluating meter issues
- Offering appointments
- Changing email preferences
- Handling back billing
If you are not happy with the resolutions offered
If you are not satisfied with the resolution provided, our Energy Manager can escalate your complaint to our dedicated complaints team. Or you can fill in the webform and select ‘Energy’ under formal complaint reason.
Click here to log a formal complaint by completing the complaints form.
We will fully review your complaint, following the Stage 1 and 2 processes explained above. If we’re not able to reach a resolution – or if your complaint is open for 8 weeks – we may reach a position called ‘deadlock’ and we will advise you of your options as part of our Stage 2 response.
If your complaint remains unresolved, you can get in touch with the Energy Ombudsman.
You can contact the Energy Ombudsman by:
- Phone: 0330 440 1624
- Email: enquiry@ombudsman-services.org
- Website: www.energyombudsman.org
- Mail: Ombudsman Services: Energy, PO Box 966, Warrington, WA4 9DF
The Energy Ombudsman is a free and independent service, and they will undertake a full review of your concerns and the actions that we took to find a resolution. If the Ombudsman finds that we have not acted correctly, then they may instruct us to take specific actions, such as providing an explanation, issuing an apology, or offering compensation.
Our drive for improvement
Once your complaint is resolved, we may contact you among a regular sample of customers to invite you to give your feedback. You can then tell us how we dealt with your concerns and let us know if there is anything else you would like us to do.
One of our senior managers may ask you for this directly, or we may invite you to take part in a short survey.
You can also share with us any other ideas you have as to how we could improve our service. You can do this at any time using the contact information on the inside back cover.
We regularly review this information, together with other feedback from our customer forums, development meetings and formal research surveys.
Independent advice
LEASE (The Leasehold Advisory Service) offers FREE advice on the law affecting residential leasehold in England and Wales. It is totally independent and is funded by Government.
- Post: Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX
- Website: Visit Lease Advice here.
Get in touch
Please complete the complaints form to contact us, ensuring that you clearly state that you are formally raising a complaint. Alternatively, you can send your complaint by post to the following address:
FirstPort, Marlborough House, Wigmore Place, Luton, LU2 9EX:
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