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 tradespeople.

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 that 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.

How to contact The Property Ombudsman Service

Post: The Property Ombudsman, 33 The Clarendon Centre, Salisbury Business Park, Dairy Meadow Lane, Salisbury, SP1 2TJ

Email: admin@tpos.co.uk

Telephone: 01722 333 306

Website: The Property Ombudsman Service

www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/make-a-complaint

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.

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.

If you are an owner of the property and require a new key or fob, you will need to get in touch with our Customer Services team who will complete our internal security checks and then ask our approved locksmith specialist to help with your request. Once we have passed your request to them they will take payment over the phone by credit or debit card and arrange for your new key/fob to be sent recorded delivery.

Customers that live on a development with site staff, you will be able to collect your key/fob from the onsite office. The onsite office may also be able to take your payment so check with them beforehand.

If you are a tenant or are acting on behalf of the owner, we will need their authority in writing to confirm that they are happy for you to purchase a key or a fob. If you do not have direct contact with your landlord, speak with your letting agent for assistance.

If you are an owner providing authority for a tenant or somebody acting on your behalf, please specify whether you are authorising for one time only or for any future occasions that a key or fob is required.

1. Staff Employment – The full costs of any staff we employ locally who work exclusively for your development, such as Development Managers, concierges, handymen and cleaners. This category covers their salaries and Employers’ National Insurance Contributions, holiday cover, sickness cover, provision for pensions, employee benefits and any other costs related to employment (for instance the recruitment costs of advertising the position). It also includes:

• a. Any costs payable to the Landlord for site offices or for dedicated accommodation for staff who live at the development as part of their role (e.g. Retirement Development Managers).
• b. Any business rates payable to the local authority, together with any Council Tax that may fall due for empty staff residential facilities (any staff actually living there will pay this themselves).
• c. On-site costs such as uniform, equipment, and office costs where an on-site office is in situ.

2. Out Of Hours Emergency Support (Monitoring Service) – Most property developments have access to an out-of-hours support line, to report any emergency repairs which may be required, such as leaks. The cost of which comes under the accounts heading known as Monitoring Service.

For retirement living sites, the service is part of a comprehensive 24-hour emergency monitoring service, to ensure your continued safety at home.

3. Insurance – The cost of insuring the buildings plus any other the communal areas and facilities, such as the grounds and lifts (if applicable) – please note that it does not cover the contents of your own home – see our home contents page.

The level of cover is always based on the full cost of reinstatement, which requires periodic independent revaluations to ensure that it remains adequate. To fully protect yours and the landlord’s assets, cover also has to be provided for public liability and employer’s liability (to protect against any claims arising from injury, for example) and risk of terrorism. Where applicable, it may also include cover for lift breakdowns and staff sickness (so that relief cover can be provided if essential staff are unavailable).

4. Electricity – Is provided to areas that require it for services to be provided, whether it be for on-site staff offices, interior and exterior lighting, door entry systems, car park gates etc, including metering and VAT.

5. Gas Supply – For communal water systems and heating, including metering and VAT. Some developments have additional feeds into individual homes for private usage which may also be managed by us, but these are charged for separately outside of the service charge.

6. Water & Sewerage – Sewerage and drainage for sinks, laundries, toilets and garden taps.

7. Communal Area Cleaning – Periodic cleaning of lobbies, hallways, stairs and carpets, plus any other shared facilities (e.g. lounges, kitchens, lifts and bin stores), which is either contracted out, or carried out by cleaners employed by the development. See our maintenance and repairs – internal pages.

8. Window Cleaning – This covers the costs of regular internal and external cleaning of windows in the communal areas only, unless your deeds specifically allow for the external cleaning of your individual property windows to be paid through the service charge too. See our help page about Windows.

9. Grounds Maintenance – Regular gardening and landscaping carried out under contract by suitable suppliers and occasional procurement of specialist services like litter clearance and tree pruning.

10. Lift – Covering all lift maintenance costs, ad-hoc repairs and the lift telephone, plus the maintenance costs of any communal stair lift facilities. Please note that annual lift maintenance contracts include regular safety inspections and emergency call-outs, but not the cost of any parts needed. See our help pages about lifts.

11. Fire Protection Maintenance – Regular fire safety inspections, maintaining and servicing any fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, fire safety panels, dry risers, automatic opening vents and automatic doors.

12. Door Entry Systems – Maintenance or rental of the main entrance door intercom systems and wiring leading up until the front door of your apartment, which usually comes under your own responsibility instead. See our maintenance and repairs – internal pages.

13. Gates & Barrier – The cost of annual maintenance contracts to ensure the gates are functioning correctly, plus any additional repairs required.

14. TV Distribution System – Many of our sites have a shared TV aerial system and these costs are for any repair and maintenance required.

15. General Maintenance – To fund a wide range specifically planned works/services for the year to the shared building and facilities; including checks, maintenance and repairs to: (where applicable):

• a. Roofs, drains, gutters and plumbing
• b. Electrical repairs
• c. Plumbing repairs
• d. Lighting repairs and lightbulb replacement
• e. Fencing, furniture and other ad-hoc repair costs

16. Leisure Facilities – On some developments we have a gymnasium, swimming pool and other leisure services available, which incur costs for the upkeep and maintenance of such items due to equipment risk assessments, equipment repairs, changing rooms upkeep, water and paper towels etc.

17. Plant & Machinery – Many of our sites contain shared plant and machinery items. Examples include smoke ventilation systems, extract fumes from an underground car park, booster pumps to circulate water around the building, communal heating systems, private foul water pumps and various others. We usually have an annual maintenance contract in place for these items, which requires them to be serviced on a regular basis to ensure their continued functionality.

18. CCTV – Many developments benefit from CCTV security, the costs included are for annual maintenance servicing, telephone lines and any repairs or minor upgrades required.

19. Pest Control – Some developments require annual pest control contracts to place and monitor bait boxes and pests on site. This also includes the cost of other ad-hoc pest control treatment, including bird spike installation.

20. Major Works – Specific large scale projects, such as roofing, carpeting, internal/external redecorations, fire safety systems, replacement doors and lift upgrades. A projects fee may apply due to the added costs involved in the professional management of complex projects, including the use of our specialist Major Works team and/or qualified surveyors, plus the formal consultation and tendering processes normally required by law. Any fees applicable will be clearly explained as part of the consultation process before any work is commenced. See our major works pages.

21. Contribution to Reserves – We build up a prudent sinking fund over time to help pay for any major works expected in future that cannot be claimed from either insurance or service contracts. This also helps to reduce the risk of large additional bills and delays caused due to insufficient funds being available when needed. The levels of contributions are determined by any requirements set out in the deeds (such as a specific frequency for redecoration, with money collected usually then held in a separate, dedicated fund) and expected lifecycles for all major assets.

22. Linked Site Charges – On occasions, costs may arise for services required on another site. This is usually where the development exists within a larger and separately managed development and annual service charges costs are incurred from the manager of the site. This may be where you are an RTM block, situated in the estate of another development.

23. Management Fees – Paid directly to FirstPort to fund a wide range of shared activities to effectively manage all developments nationwide. It does not include any costs specific to the development itself and we benchmark it regularly to ensure it delivers good value for money. See our management fees page.

Examples include management, customer services, and support functions, travel, computing equipment, communications, regulatory compliance, procurement, and banking. HMRC require the payment to them of VAT on all management fees, which we, therefore, budget for separately.

24. Accountancy Fees – These fees cover preparing, reviewing and distributing annual accounts for your development through use of our dedicated in-house accountants. Our fee is calculated on a number of factors, including the complexity of your scheme and the number of units. We also benchmark these fees periodically to ensure they remain fair and competitive.

25. Audit Fees – The external costs incurred for formal auditing of the annual accounts by independent Chartered Accountants, where required, and to ensure accuracy of the year-end accounts by an independent external auditor.

26. Legal and Professional – Any costs incurred by the development through the use of professional experts (e.g. surveyors) or for legal advice/proceedings. Also included are company secretary and other licence fees, including lease and transfer requests.

27. Health & Safety – Keeping your home and managed areas safe and healthy to live within is one of our main priorities. The costs here can include annual health and safety fire risk assessments, lightning conductor testing, PAT testing, 5-year electrical tests, and playground risk assessments and any repair costs incurred to maintain the equipment.

28. Guest Room Income (Retirement only) – We record the full income generated by hiring the room under this heading, whether payable to the Landlord or the development’s own service charge account. Please note that, where applicable, the Landlord also reserves the right to withdraw guest room hire at any time.

29. Guest Room Costs (Retirement only) – Some developments have a guest room available for visitors to hire. This line caters for any costs incurred for maintaining and cleaning the room.

We will always strive, to the best of our ability, to create a harmonious environment for you and your neighbours and all reports of disturbances are kept strictly confidential. If you are experiencing issues which are causing you a nuisance, see how we can help with some of these below:

Noise

If your neighbour is making a lot of noise, particularly outside of sociable hours (11pm-7am), we will first send out a polite reminder to the property advising that they are causing excessive noise and hope that this will resolve the issue. Should the issue persist, we will write two more formal letters requesting that the noise be ceased. If the property is tenanted, we will write to the owner of the property to rectify the issues.

We recommend that you keep a log of the time, date and type of noise throughout this process as if your neighbours fail to act on our letters, you will need to escalate the issue to your local Environmental Health. Environmental Health holds a higher level of authority over noise concerns and will be able to act further on your behalf to resolve the issue.

Parking

Sometimes you may have issues with a neighbour parking in your parking space, a visitors bay or parking illegally. This may just be an accident and we will try to have the vehicle moved as soon as possible.

When you report the vehicle to us, we will require the registration plate number, the make of the vehicle, the model, the colour and some pictures where possible. You will also need to tell us the exact location of the vehicle.

We will start by sending a general letter to all residents in the block advising that the vehicle has been parked incorrectly and must be moved immediately. If this is not effective, we will send another letter to all residents and your Property Manager will apply the first notice to the vehicle. Should the vehicle still not be removed, we will send a second letter and apply a final notice to the vehicle before further action is taken.

Should we need to take further action, we first contact the local council to ask for their assistance in removing the vehicle. If the council are unable to do so, we will instruct one of our approved contractors to remove the vehicle. A notice will be placed before doing so.

Illegal Activity

If you witness any illegal activity on your development such as the use of drugs or antisocial behaviour, please report this to your local police immediately. We are limited in our action; however, if you notice any security issues or any damage to the development, please notify us.

Communal Area Storage

Under no circumstance should items be stored within the communal area. Not only can this make the block look unsightly, but it also poses an extremely high health and safety risk for all that visit or live in the block.

We will apply TORT notices on any items stored in the communal area and give the owners of the items a stipulated time frame to remove them in. Should the items not be removed within the time frame, we will instruct our contractors to remove the item(s) and store them for 28 days before being disposed of.

If there are any other issues that are causing you a disturbance, please contact our Customer Services team who will be able to assist.

If we do receive a commission on anything, we are transparent and declare it in the notes on your annual accounts, in keeping with our codes of practice. FirstPort Group does not earn any commission for the procurement of insurance policies.

We also have an open and transparent process for awarding contracts. When a formal tender process is necessary we invite at least three independent contractors (the only exceptions to this are out of hours monitoring and some fire systems and alarm installation works, where a FirstPort connected business may be invited to tender). Information about whether a FirstPort connected business has provided services at your development and earned a fee is disclosed in the annual service charge accounts.

Guests may use the residents’ lounge, but please check with your Development Manager to see if there are any restrictions. Residents take priority, but the lounge can occasionally be used by clubs and other outside organisations for a fee. Your Development Manager will be able to give you more details.

If you wish, and for a small daily fee, you can book the lounge for a private function, subject to availability. You can arrange this with your Development Manager.

The following security measures ensure that you and your property are always kept safe:

• The main doors are kept locked at all times, with a security entry system in operation. All residents are issued with a key to the main front door. 
• Emergency exits are provided for emergency use only and can only be opened from the inside. 
• Within independent retirement developments, tradespeople are allowed access via a security code at certain times of the day. Only those providing essential services are given the code. 
• Visitors are monitored by a door entry system that allows callers to speak to you or the Development Manager before being buzzed in. Video entry, linked to your TV screen, may also be available. Ask your Development Manager if you need help using the entry system. 
• The Development Manager will aim to keep an eye on visitors and refuse entry to any unauthorised persons. 
• The Development Manager also holds a master key to all flats, but may only use it in emergencies or with your written permission. 
• Within a retirement development, your key will open the development’s main entrance door and the door to your flat only. Your door is fitted with a high-security lock and there is no need to adjust any locks or add a chain to your door. Duplicate keys should only be cut using an approved service. Ask your Development Manager for advice. 
• Please note that not all developments are fitted with intruder alarms. 

If the site staff do not have your parcel although it has been signed for by them, please contact our Customer Services teams who will advise your Property Manager that an investigation needs to be carried out. Your Property Manager will make contact with you via your preferred method to rectify the matter as soon as possible.

If you have not received your parcel containing a key or fob, please contact our Customer Services team who will be able to track the parcel for you.