Appeals, complaints and compliments
The Resilient Homes Fund welcomes complaints, compliments or any feedback that will help improve our services. We are committed to handling complaints professionally and fairly.
General enquiries
If you have an enquiry about the Resilient Homes Fund, please phone 13 QGOV (13 74 68) Monday to Friday 9am-5pm or email resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au.
If you have any questions about any stage of your funding application, please contact the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) via email to RHAS@qrida.qld.gov.au. This includes funding application decisions, variations to approved works under the Letter of Offer, reimbursement, and payments to licensed contractors.
Appeals process – Retrofit or Home Raise programs
The following outlines the process to appeal a decision relating to the Resilient Retrofit or Home Raise programs, which are administered by the Department of Energy and Public Works.
If you are appealing a decision relating to the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program, please follow the process identified further down this page.
The Resilient Homes Fund is committed to providing a clear and independent system for dealing with appeals.
1. Decision review
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your Home Assessment Report, or Value for Money assessment, you can request to have this decision reviewed.
In the first instance, please email the following information to resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au:
- your RHF number (found on your Home Assessment Report)
- your full name
- your property address
- information on why your home should meet the eligibility criteria for the Home Raising or Resilient Retrofit programs (if relevant)
- additional information or evidence that was not included in your original registration of interest, or you believe may have not been considered as part of the assessment process.
When to request a review
Please lodge your request for review within 60 days of receiving your Home Assessment Report or Value for Money assessment.
We may accept a request for review outside these timeframes on a case-by-case basis.
Waiting for a decision
Your request for review will be considered by the Resilient Homes Fund team and you will be notified of the outcome by reply email, the team may also contact you to discuss your review or collect more information.
Depending on the type of decision you would like us to review, we may need to reassess evidence and processes, which could lead to a revised decision based on new information.
We aim to complete your review within 30 days of receiving your request however, due to the volume or complexity of some enquiries, some reviews may take longer than others to complete. We will keep you informed if there are any delays.
2. Lodge an appeal with the Appeals Committee
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, you can lodge an appeal to be considered by the Resilient Homes Fund Appeals Committee.
For an appeal to be considered, please forward the email with the review outcome to resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au, along with adequate information outlining your reasons for requesting an appeal.
Please ensure your email also includes:
- your RHF number (found on your Home Assessment Report)
- your full name
- your property address
- additional information or evidence that was not included in your original request for review, or you believe may have not been considered as part of the assessment process.
Note that a request for appeal will be treated as a complaint pursuant to the Complaints Management Policy (PDF, 507.8KB) and Procedure (PDF, 351KB) of the Department of Energy and Public Works.
When to appeal
Please lodge your appeal within 30 days of receiving your decision review. We may accept an appeal outside these timeframes on a case-by-case basis.
Waiting for a decision
The Resilient Homes Fund will consider whether your appeal can be accepted by the Appeals Committee.
If your appeal can be accepted, the Resilient Homes Fund will advise you and then the Appeals Committee will:
- Consider your case based on:
- the information in your email
- an in-depth, independent review of the original assessment and all supporting data
- recommendations from technical experts, in line with eligibility criteria.
- Send you a formal letter advising you the outcome of your appeal. This will usually be within 30 business days of receiving your formal request.
If your appeal can’t be accepted, it will still be treated as a complaint and the Resilient Homes Fund will advise you in writing as soon as possible explaining why the request could not be accepted as an appeal.
3. If you’re unhappy with how your appeal was dealt with
If you are unhappy with the way your appeal was dealt with, you can request the Department of Energy and Public Works conduct an internal review by emailing resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au.
Requests for an internal review should include:
- the department’s reference number (provided as part of the response to your appeal request)
- the decision/s you are seeking to be reviewed
- the grounds (reasons) why you consider the decision/s is/are wrong and supporting evidence if available
- the outcome being sought.
The department will consider whether an internal review will be undertaken and advise you of the next steps. If your request for an internal review is not accepted, or you remain dissatisfied with the action taken by the department’s internal review, you can request an external review by the Queensland Ombudsman.
You can contact the Queensland Ombudsman on:
Telephone: 07 3005 7000
Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.qld.gov.au
Web: make a complaint
Appeals process – Voluntary Home Buy-Back program
1. Request an appeal
The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), which is responsible for administering the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program, is committed to ensuring you have the option to request an appeal of a decision.
If you are dissatisfied with any decisions made regarding your application, you can request an appeal by email to buyback@qra.qld.gov.au.
For an appeal to be considered, we ask that you provide a formal written request with information that supports your request for an appeal. Please provide:
- Your RHF number
- Your full name (or names of the homeowner/s on the title)
- The property address
- Your reason for the appeal
- Evidence of how your home meets the eligibility criteria for the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program, if it was previously determined that the criteria was not met
- Any critical evidence that was not included in your original registration of interest, or you believe may have been overlooked as part of the assessment process.
When to request an appeal
All requests for an appeal must be submitted in writing (via email) to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority within 30 days of receiving the original written decision notification.
Waiting for a decision
Your appeal will be considered based on:
- the information you supplied to support your appeal
- data provided to the Voluntary Home Buy-Back team from your local council
- related Resilient Homes Fund guidelines
- information collected through your Resilient Homes Fund registration of interest.
The Queensland Reconstruction Authority will review your appeal and send you a letter via email advising of the outcome within 30 days of receiving your formal request for appeal and supporting information.
2. Request a review with the Appeals Committee
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the appeals decision made by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, you can apply for a review by the Resilient Homes Fund Appeals Committee within 30 days of your appeal decision.
To apply for a review by the Resilient Homes Fund Appeals Committee, we ask that you provide evidence that an incorrect assessment has been made when considered against your local council’s flood risk data.
For reviews of property valuations, we ask that you provide evidence that your appeal decision is incorrect and provide an independent valuation that supports the basis for a change to the offer made to you.
A request for a review by the Appeals Committee can be made through the following channels:
E-mail: buyback@qra.qld.gov.au
Post: PO Box 15478, City East, QLD 4002
Waiting for a decision
Your review will be considered by the Resilient Homes Fund Appeals Committee who will:
- Consider your review based on:
- the information in your email and the additional evidence provided
- a review of the original Home Assessment Report and supporting evidence provided
- The Queensland Reconstruction Authority, on behalf of the Resilient Homes Fund Appeals Committee will send you a formal letter advising you of the outcome of your request for review. This will usually be within 30 business days of receiving your formal request.
3. If you’re unhappy with the Review outcome
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, you can request another review under the Judicial Review Act 1991 (Qld) and by the State Ombudsman.
You can contact the Queensland Ombudsman on:
Telephone: 07 3005 7000
Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.qld.gov.au
Web: make a complaint
Complaints
If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service or actions of the Resilient Homes Fund or our staff, you can submit a formal complaint by:
- emailing resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au or
- visiting the Department of Energy and Public Works Compliments and Complaints webpage
Compliments
You can send us a compliment by:
- emailing resilienthomes@epw.qld.gov.au or
- using the Queensland Government complaints and compliments online form