Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in responding to her solicitor’s enquiries about her council-property as part of the ‘Right to Buy’ process. This is because it would have been reasonable for Miss X to follow the statutory process available to her and take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains the Council has failed to provide information requested by her solicitor about her council-property as part of the ‘Right to Buy’ process. She says this has delayed her purchase and caused her financial loss.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Miss X’s response, shared my draft decision with her and invited her comments.

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What I found

5. Section 119 of the Housing Act 1985 gives council tenants the right to buy the property they are living in at a set discount. There is a strict procedure for applications.
6. Once councils receive an application from a tenant to buy their property, they have four weeks to issue a notice confirming the applicants are eligible (RTB2). They have eight weeks to send the applicant a formal offer letter (RTB4).
7. If a council fails to meet the timescales, applicants may serve an ‘Initial Notice of Delay’ form (RTB6). If they receive no response to this within a month, they may send an ‘Operative Notice of Delay’ form (RTB8). Once the RTB8 form is sent, a council (as landlord) may need to refund rent paid during the period of delay.
8. If a council still does not act on notices of delay, a tenant may take their dispute to the County Court. Under Section 181 of the Housing Act 1985, the County Court has a wide discretion to decide any question relating to the right to buy scheme, other than the value of the property.
9. Miss X applied to buy her property but says the Council has failed to provide important information she needs before she can complete her purchase. She is concerned she will miss out on the ‘stamp duty holiday’ announced by the government and says her mortgage offer is about to expire. She says the Council’s delay has resulted in her paying more money in rent and additional solicitors’ fees.
10. Before deciding whether to investigate a complaint, we need to consider what other options are available. We normally expect a purchaser under the right to buy scheme to use the processes and options set out above. They are the specific methods parliament provided to deal with right to buy disputes.
11. The information Miss X has provided suggests she, or her solicitors on her behalf, have served an Initial Notice of Delay on the Council. If Miss X continued to experience delay by the Council after this it would have been reasonable for her to serve an Operative Notice of Delay and take the matter to court. The court has the expertise to consider the matter, including considering the relevance of Mrs X serving any delay notices or not, and has the power to make a binding order on the Council if it sees fit. There might be some cost to court action but the court could have decided to offset her rental payments against the purchase price and this would have provided a significant benefit to Miss X. It may also have prompted the Council to respond more quickly to the enquiry from her solicitors.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Miss X to go to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman