Complaints

Introduction

The Association of Retirement Housing Managers (ARHM) is an organisation that represents managers of private retirement housing in England and Wales. This includes registered social landlords and private companies. Membership of ARHM is voluntary and as a professional body, ARHM has no statutory powers to enforce complaints or provide legal redress.

The primary objective of the ARHM is to uphold and promote high standards of practice and ethics in the management of retirement housing. This is supported by the ARHM Code of Practice setting out the standards required of its members. The Code has been approved by the Government as the benchmark for good management of private retirement housing.

If you wish to make a complaint, please check the Member Search service on our website to verify that the party your complaint relates to is a current ARHM member.

Our focus when assessing complaints against our members is compliance with our Code of Practice, therefore when contacting us, please clearly identify the specific section or sections of the Code of Practice you believe the member organisation has breached.

All ARHM members are required to make the Code available at the retirement scheme they manage. Ask you scheme manager for a copy or alternatively you can download a copy from our website here: Code of Practice – ARHM.

Before You Contact Us

For your complaint to be considered, the following criteria must be met:

• The matter must have been fully addressed through the member’s own internal complaints process including, where appropriate, escalation to the Housing Ombudsman, Property Ombudsman or the First-tier Tribunal (FTT).
• We will not intervene if the matter is currently being considered by a recognised dispute resolution body e.g. Ombudsman Service or the First-tier Tribunal, but we will review their outcome to identify any breaches of the Code of Practice.
• The matter must not relate to reasonableness of service charges.
• We will not consider anonymous complaints; however, we will consider confidentiality requests if the case can still be reviewed fairly.
• We only consider complaints about current ARHM members.

 ARHM Complaints Procedure

If you have fully exhausted the member organisations complaints process including a determination from either the First-tier Tribunal, Housing Ombudsman or Property Ombudsman, you may refer the matter to ARHM.

Please provide:

• A copy of the external agency’s determination
• A clear summary of the specific section or sections or the ARHM Code of Practice you believe have been breached.

ARHM will review your complaint and respond within 28 days, confirming whether any breaches have been identified.

The ARHM will confirm what action will be taken to ensure the member organisation rectifies any breaches and associated timescales.

What Sanctions does the ARHM have against its Members?

ARHM’s objective is to raise standards in retirement housing management. Where a breach of the Code of Practice occurs, we require members to take appropriate action to rectify, including policy and procedure changes to prevent recurrence.

ARHM does not award compensation but does have the authority to discipline members and where necessary, terminate membership.