Sheffield City Council (22 010 781)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Nov 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide the complainant with a tenancy eligible for a maximum discount under the Right to Buy scheme. This is because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to provide him with social housing eligible for the maximum Right to Buy discount.
- Mr X says his current tenancy is only eligible for a discount of 2.76% instead of the maximum 47%. He wants the Council to put him back on the Housing Register with his ten years of ‘waiting time’ so that he can apply for a property that comes with a maximum discount.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we are unlikely to find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says the restrictions on the discount available on his tenancy were not made clear to him at the time he signed up for the tenancy.
- The Council responds to say it could not confirm what information was provided to him during the sign up. It finds Mr X could have checked this information himself by contacting the Council’s Home Ownership Team. Overall, it says its duty was to meet Mr X’s housing needs and not his future desire to buy a property. It refuses his request to ‘give back’ his waiting time as it considers he is now suitably housed.
- We will not investigate as we are unlikely to find fault with the Council. This is because the Council’s obligation was to meet Mr X’s housing need. There is no legal obligation on the Council to provide Mr X with a property that comes with the maximum discount.
Final decision
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman