Tribunal Procedures for the Unipol DASH Code of Standards - General Notes for Guidance
Signing the Code of Standards
1. Adoption of the code by an owner is voluntary. However, signatories to the code who fail to comply with its provisions will risk this fact being made known to prospective tenants. Signatories who repeatedly breach the terms of the code will find that this fact will be formally displayed to prospective tenants. (This may include publication).
2. Details of complaints and compliance check results will be available for public view on the Unipol web site.
3. In order to receive a certificate owners will need to sign the Unipol DASH Code Declaration and return it to Unipol. Certificates will be issued within 7 days of receiving the declaration.
4. On the day that the declaration is received properties which the owner has registered as Unipol DASH Code properties must meet fully with the standards contained within the Code.
5. Unipol DASH Code owners will have details of their properties placed on different boards within the Accommodation Bureau to non Code owners and students will be given a bullet point outline of what a Code owner means in positive terms. Code properties will be displayed on the internet website on a blue background with the Code logo clearly visible.
Complaints
6. Complaints by student tenants (or their representative) shall be made in writing (or via email) to The Accreditation Officer, Unipol Student Homes (Please see additional leaflet - ‘Complaints Procedure for Students’).
7. Once a complaint is received the owner of the property will be written to, informing them of the complaint and giving them 7 working days in which to respond.
8. Generally, it is hoped that reporting a complaint about a property of an owner who has signed the Code voluntarily will result in that owner taking any necessary remedial action immediately.
9. The Accreditation Officer may visit the property if the owner and person/s making the complaint cannot agree as to the standard of the accommodation. In these cases the Accreditation Officer will prepare a report on the inspection and this will be made available to the Chair and members of the Tribunal.
10. Once the information relating to the complaint from the owner is received, it will be sent to the person/s making the complaint. If the owner/agent and person/s making the complaint cannot agree or resolve the complaint at this stage the Accreditation Officer will pass the information to the Chair of the Tribunal. The Tribunal process will be deemed to have been triggered once the Chair has become involved. The Chair will have two options once s/he has received a complaint
- to refer the matter to a fast track tribunal for a decision
- to refer the matter to the full tribunal for a decision.
11. Although any of these bodies may review an earlier decision in the light of additional information there is no appeal system.
12. The full Tribunal is designed to be the final resort in a serious dispute. The Tribunal will be expensive to administer and should sit infrequently.
13. The Tribunal Chair is to be appointed.
The Fast Track Tribunal
15. The "Fast Track Tribunal" will consist of three members:
- The Chair of the Tribunal (or their nominee)
- Two Vice-Chairs, one of whom should be an owner and one a student member of the Unipol sub committee for Nottingham
15. The quorum shall be two.
16. The Fast Track Tribunal will deal with all referred complaints relating to deposit deductions, and failures by an owner to respond to letters from the Accreditation Officer in respect of complaints submitted.
17. Owners and tenants involved in the case before the Tribunal will be allowed to attend only at the invitation of that Tribunal meeting. Hearings will take place on the dates agreed regardless of whether the owner or tenant/s can be present, except in exceptional circumstances.
18. The fast track Tribunal will have the same powers as the Full Tribunal. The Fast Track Tribunal can refer a complaint to a hearing of the Full Tribunal.
19. Dates for hearings of the Fast Track Tribunal will be set on an annual basis and published in advance. If at the time the hearings are due to take place no complaints have been referred, the Chair and Vice Chairs may agree to postpone the scheduled hearing.
The Full Tribunal
20. The Full Tribunal will consist of nine members:
- The Chair of the Tribunal (or his nominee)
- The two vice-Chairs
- Two student members from Unipol’s Board or sub committee for Nottingham
- Three representatives from the Owner Community (selected from a panel of ten)
- One member nominated by Nottingham City Council
21. At least one member present must be a student and the quorum shall be five.
22. Owners and tenants involved in the case before the Tribunal will be invited to attend. Should problems arise from both the complainant and the respondent attending the same meeting, where possible, every effort will be made to allow each a separate hearing before the Tribunal panel.
23. No legal representatives are allowed at the Tribunal representing either owner or tenant. Lay people can accompany or represent either party.
24. Tribunal hearings should be heard within eight working weeks of the Tribunal procedure being triggered. If either the owner or the complainant/s cannot attend within eight working weeks then the hearing will take place in absentia of that party. NB Working weeks do not include the month of August or the Christmas and Easter shut-down period
Penalties
25. The Tribunal will be able to make recommendations to all statutory bodies, educational institutions and all other appropriate parties. In the event that a complaint from a student was malicious a recommendation from the Tribunal to the institution in respect of its disciplinary procedures would be likely.
26. The Tribunal can also recommend the following:
- A warning letter be written
Suspension from the Code of Standards (for either a specified period of time or indefinitely) of an owner’s entire portfolio or individual properties
- Publish failure to meet standards set within Code
- Revoking certificate
- Suspension from using Accommodation Bureau Service
- Expulsion from Code of Standards for a maximum of six years
- Expulsion from using Accommodation Bureau Service
- A further compliance check
- Entry of case papers into the Code of Standards database
27. Any decision of the Tribunal will be confirmed in writing
28. The decision of the Chair is final
29. Any member of the Tribunal panel with a direct financial interest in a case before the panel should declare it to the tribunal before the case is heard
Selection of Tribunal Members
30. Selection of Unipol Board Representatives - shall be by arrangement with the Chair of the Board
31. Selection of Owner Representatives - In order to select ten members of the owner community nominations will be sought, on a three yearly basis, from all owners signed-up to the Code by May 1st in the year that the election takes place. All owners nominated must be in good standing.
32. In the event of more than ten nominations being received there will be an election with the electorate being that above constituency. Candidates would be allowed a 100 word resume of why they were standing which will be circulated to that electorate.
Annual Meeting of the Tribunal
33. The full Tribunal will meet on an annual basis in order to receive a report from the Accreditation Officer detailing the proceedings of both Tribunals during the past year. This will occur on a set date each year, as determined by the Chair and Vice-Chairs
Tribunal Procedure - At the Tribunal
This procedure is provided in confidence to those attending meetings for guidance and assistance.
1. The Tribunal will be called and members of the tribunal confirmed as attending
2. Unipol Student Homes shall service the tribunal (except in the event of them being the recipient of a complaint) and nominated staff shall be allowed to be present
3. No observers or other parties shall be present, except with the permission of the Chair.
4. All members present will be reminded to turn off any mobile phones, pagers etc.
5. Members of the Tribunal will be identified to the parties at the commencement of proceedings
6. The parties to the complaint and the signatories will be identified at the commencement of that agenda item.
7. Details of the complaint shall be circulated to all Tribunal members who have confirmed their attendance not less than three working days before the meeting.
8. Additional paper work made available after that time may be tabled at the meeting only with the consent of the Tribunal
9. The Chair, or his/her nominee shall summarise the complaint and subsequent action taken. This summation shall be definitive and not open to challenge.
10. The Chair may then invite parties to the complaint to make comments within a time-frame decided upon by the Chair. The chair shall invite the complainant to speak first and the owner/manager to speak second.
11. The parties to the complaint shall address the Tribunal only.
12. The Chair shall summate the issues.
13. If there are a number of complaints being considered then the Tribunal shall undertake its deliberations in confidence at the end of the Agenda. If there is one complaint then the Tribunal shall undertake its deliberations at the end of that hearing.
14. The Tribunal shall issue in not more than three working days its decision on the complaint. Such a decision can include, but is not limited to:
- a request for further information
- a rejection of the complaint
- a recommendation to other parties
15. Every effort shall be made by the Tribunal to reach consensus on its decisions but in the event of a variety of views being expressed then a simple majority shall decide the matter. The majority decision shall then be the view of the Tribunal as a whole and no record shall be kept of any voting that took place nor any report made of that vote.
16. The decision shall be in writing and made public.