Learning from complaints

We take every complaint seriously and use them as a chance to learn and do better.

From July to September, we were really pleased to see that we received fewer complaints than we did this time last year (down 8% from the same time in 2024)! This shows us that the changes we’re making to improve are making a difference and helps us to better understand what more we need to do.

Repairs

Over the past months, repairs have remained the highest reason for complaints, accounting for 42% of all complaints we receive. We know how important it is to you that repairs are sorted quickly and done to a high standard, and we’re working hard to make our service better.

We’ve:

  • Continued to work closely with our repairs contractors to put clear checklists and schedules in place, so you’re kept updated throughout your repair. This should mean fewer delays and less need for you to follow up.
  • Added alerts and checks to our systems to help make sure repairs aren’t marked as complete until they’re actually finished.
  • Recently ran a customer census to help us gather more complete and up-to-date information about you and your household. This information helps us plan improvements and make sure we’re providing the right services and support for your needs.

If you need to move out for repairs, our surveyors now carry out regular checks while work is happening, and again after it’s finished. This helps ensure that your home is ready before you move back in.

And, from September 2025, every decant (where customers move out for repairs to be done in the home) will include a written plan. This will set out what work will be done, how long it will take, how you’ll be kept informed, and include a joint inspection with you before you return.

We recently finished carrying out a review into how we handle complaints relating to window repairs, using feedback you’ve given us around what you expect when reporting repairs as a guide.

This follows the Housing Ombudsman (an independent organisation that looks into complaints from people living in social housing), raising concerns about how some landlords were handling complaints related to window repairs. In response, they asked all social housing providers, like us, to look at their own window-related complaints and make sure they’re learning from them.

From this review, we made changes that not only improve how we deal with window-related repairs, but also repairs in general:

  • Our systems now flag known vulnerabilities as soon as you get in touch, so we can offer any extra support or reasonable adjustments, early on.
  • Our contractors and surveyors can now raise the urgency level of a repair if they think it's more serious than first reported. This helps us respond quicker and reduce disruption to your home.

All window repairs are raised and assessed in line with our repair timescales and health and safety standards (HHSRS). Some lower-risk issues, like blown glazing that isn't a safety concern, may be scheduled as part of our planned works, rather than being done immediately.

Damp and mould

We know how worrying it can be to deal with damp, mould or condensation in your home. It’s very important to us that your home is safe and comfortable.

Our damp, mould and condensation team are always here to help. They focus solely on these issues to make sure cases are dealt with, consistently and thoroughly.

We continue to hold meetings with colleagues across different teams where cases are complex, to make sure all colleagues are working together to resolve damp and mould, and our technical business partners are triaging all new cases on a daily basis to make sure we identify the root cause of damp and mould as soon as possible to prevent any delays. This means we can handle your issue faster and help to prevent it from coming back.

We’ll be holding a Facebook Live session on 30th October 2025 to talk more about damp and mould, what we’ve been doing to improve how we handle it, as well as answering your questions live. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more!

Reporting a repair

If you need to report a repair to us, you can do so in the way that suits you best.

  • Visit our website
  • Call us at 01202 319 119 or email customers@stonewater.org
  • Log in to your MyHome account

For urgent out-of-hours repairs, please call us at 01202 319 119.

Customer Complaints Learning Panel (CCLP)

The CCLP is made up of engaged customers who volunteer their time to review our complaints service from a customer point of view. They look at real complaints we’ve received to help us learn how we can do better.

Recently, the CCLP met to look at some cases where things went wrong, share learnings and make recommendations on how we could improve. Following their feedback, a new action plan was created.

Actions included:

  • Setting clear timelines for following up with councils and other agencies to make sure services are delivered to our customers.
  • Making communication around consultations and planned maintenance works better, so customers know what’s happening and why.
  • Look into digital tools for reporting repairs, and make sure our systems work smoothly with those used by contractors.

We're working to make improvements based on their feedback, along with more training for our teams, and continuously reviewing our services to make sure they’re working for you.

Interested in joining the CCLP, or just getting involved in general? You can find out more about our involvement opportunities here!

Your home

You’ve been telling us that our messaging around restricted leases is unclear, causing confusion and making it harder to sell your home.

We’re taking feedback on board and will carry out a full review of all our 80% restricted leases to make sure our information is up-to-date, clear and easy to understand, for both our customers and colleagues.

Updates you should know about

Each year, we review how we’re doing and share the results with you. We’ve updated some key documents on our website so you can see how we’re performing, what’s going well, and where we’re making improvements.

What’s been updated:

  • Stonewater and Mount Green Self-Assessment: A look at how well we’re meeting the standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.
  • Stonewater’s Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report and Mount Green’s Annual Complaints and Service Improvement Report: These reports show how many complaints we received over the last year, what they were about, how we handled them, and what we’ve learned.
  • How Stonewater and Mount Green’s Boards have responded to this year’s reports and what actions they’re taking as a result.

Why is this important?

We share these documents with you to be open about how we’re doing and to show how your feedback helps us improve. They’re part of our promise to be transparent and make things better for our customers!

We’ve also updated the Complaints Policy to make it clearer and more accessible.