Unacceptable Customer Behaviour

In April 2024, Tuntum introduced an Unacceptable Customer Behaviour Policy to comply with the latest Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code as follows:

5.14 Landlords must have policies and procedures in place for managing unacceptable behaviour from residents and/or their representatives. Landlords must be able to evidence reasons for putting any restrictions in place and must keep restrictions under regular review.

5.15 Any restrictions placed on contact due to unacceptable behaviour must be proportionate and demonstrate regard for the provisions of the Equality Act 2010. 

It was approved by the Customer Experience Committee at their meeting in March 2024. You can read the Unacceptable Customer Behaviour Policy by clicking here


There are times when customers may act out of character in times of trouble or distress. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a customer approaching us for help and we will always take an empathetic and supportive approach.

There are occasions when the behaviour or actions of our customers make it very difficult for us to deal with their enquiry. This can impact the service we provide to other customers. This policy explains how we will approach these situations and applies to all methods of contact.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour include but are not limited to:

  • unreasonable demands (e.g. requesting large volumes of information, asking for responses within a short space of time, refusing to speak to an individual or insisting on speaking with another)
  • unreasonable persistence (refusing to accept the answer that has been provided, continuing to raise the same subject matter without providing any new evidence, continuously adding to, or changing the subject matter of the complaint)
  • verbal abuse, aggression, violence (this is not just limited to actual physical or verbal abuse but can include derogatory remarks, rudeness, inflammatory allegations, and threats of violence)
  • overload of letters, calls, emails or contact via social media (this could include the frequency of contact as well as the volume of correspondence received as well as the frequency and length of telephone calls).