Tenant Fees Act

We offer homes for rent through Market Rent, Intermediate Rent and London Living Rent as well as some other special arrangements.

These homes are outside of our core social housing business. With some of these homes we take deposits.

We comply with the TFA which applies to tenancies starting from 1 June 2019.

We do this by charging no more than five weeks deposit and not charging any fees associated with starting a tenancy, its administration or ending it.

You will only pay rent (and in some cases service charge for services to your home or the block/estate).

We are a member of The Housing Ombudsman.

We are also members of The Housing Ombudsman Service and The Property Ombudsman redress schemes, which operate for the benefit of landlords and tenants.

The DPS keep deposit monies safe for letting agents, landlords and tenants. DPS is the service that Southern Housing uses.

They are authorised by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide tenancy deposit protection in England and Wales.

You can view our Property Ombudsman Membership Certificate here. More information about the Property Ombudsman can be found here.

image: The property Ombudsman and Trading Standards logos

What about residents living in properties we manage who are NOT Southern Housing tenants?

We’re committed to providing a professional service to all our residents and clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to put it right and improve our service.

The following information is for residents who are NOT Southern Housing tenants, but live in properties we manage.

If you’ve a complaint, please contact us at Southern Housing, including as much detail as possible.

Our contact details

We’ll then respond in line with the timeframes set out below (if you feel we haven’t sought to address your complaints within eight weeks, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Property Ombudsman to consider without our final viewpoint on the matter).

What will happen after I’ve sent you my complaint?

We’ll send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure
We’ll then investigate your complaint. This will normally be dealt with by a Senior Property Manager who will review your concerns and speak to the team and/or member of staff who dealt with you. A formal written outcome of our investigation will be sent to you within 15 working days of sending the acknowledgement letter
If, at this stage, you’re still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for a separate review to take place by a senior member of staff
We’ll write to you within 15 working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final viewpoint on the matter
If you’re still not satisfied after the last stage of the in-house complaint procedure (or more than eight weeks has elapsed since the complaint was first made) you can request an independent review from The Property Ombudsman without charge.

Please note the following: You’ll need to submit your complaint to The Property Ombudsman within 12 months of receiving our final viewpoint letter, including any evidence to support your case.

The Property Ombudsman requires that all complaints are addressed through this inhouse complaints
procedure, before being submitted for an independent review.

You can contact the Property Ombudsman using the below contact details:

The Property Ombudsman
Milford House
43-55 Milford Street
Salisbury, Wiltshire
SP1 2BP

01722 333 306

admin@tpos.co.uk
www.tpos.co.uk