Complaints Procedure

Land & Property Services - Corporate Complaints Procedure

Our commitment to customers

We aim to ensure that:

• Making a complaint is as easy as possible
• We treat your complaint seriously
• We deal with your complaint promptly and in confidence
• We learn from complaints and use them to review and improve our service

What is a complaint?

A complaint is when you tell us you are not happy about the service we provide.

• It can be about anything and could include
• When we do not deliver a service on time
• When we give you the wrong information
• When you receive a poor quality service
• When you have a problem with a member of staff

How to make a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint you can contact our Customer Services Team in any of the ways listed below.

By email at customerservices@lpsni.gov.uk

In writing to our Customer Services Team at

By phone to our Customer Services Team on 028 90543929.

By fax to our Customer Services team on 028 90543806.

In person at one of our offices.

Your complaint will be fully investigated and a response issued within 10 working days.

If you are unhappy with the response you can contact the Chief Executive

If You are Still Unhappy

If you are still unhappy with our response you can contact the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman will not normally investigate a complaint unless the internal complaints procedure has been exhausted. It is necessary to contact the Ombudsman through your MLA.

Details on how to complain to the Ombudsman can be found at http://www.ni-ombudsman.org.uk

Or for Land Registration you can choose to have your complaints examined by the Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR). This would still allow for the case to be examined by the Ombudsman at a later stage.

By phone on 020727809675

Email enquiries@icr.gsi.gov.uk

The ICR’s role is to act as an honest broker in investigating complaints against Land Registers, when you believe there has been a failure in service standards or maladministration.

Response times

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 2 working days.

We will issue a full response within 10 working days.

If there is a delay in responding we will keep you informed of our progress.

Comments

We are happy to receive any other comments on our service to customers.

Please contact us in any of the ways mentioned above or complete a comment card at any of our offices. Alternatively you can email us from the contact us section of our website.

Challenges to our decisions

We need to deal with some specific complaints in a different way. Details of these types of complaints are as follows:

Valuation Complaints

There is a separate appeals procedure if you do not agree with the valuation we have placed on your property. Details of the appeal procedure can be found in the Land & Property Services Customer Charter, a copy of which can be obtained at any Rating Service or Valuation Service office, or on our website at http://www.lpsni.gov.uk

Housing Benefit Complaints

There is a separate Housing Benefit appeals procedure if you do not agree with the amount of Housing Benefit you are receiving. You can get details from

By phone on (Freephone) 0800 5877477 or on our website at

www.lpsni.gov.uk

Licensing Complaints

If your complaint is specific to a Licensing decision and all internal processes have been exhausted you can contact:

By email at hmsostandards@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

In writing to:

By phone on 020 7276 5215.

By fax on 020 7276 5207.