Winchester City Council (22 012 625)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Jan 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has delayed completing a house sale under the right to buy scheme. This is because it is reasonable to expect the complainant to use the legal remedy available to him.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, wants to buy his council house from the Council. He complains that the Council has delayed completing the process and not properly compensated him for this. He also says the Council has not issued a valid Offer Notice to him as it includes incorrect information about the repayment of the discount if he were to sell the property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to buy his council house in January 2021. He felt the Council were delaying the sale so served an Initial Notice of Delay followed by an Operative Notice of Delay. The Council has since agreed to reduce the price of the property to take into account the rent he paid during the delay period, it has also issued a Offer Notice to him. Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s proposed discount and says the Offer Notice contains the incorrect information about the repayment of discount should he sell the property.
- In addition to the delay procedure, section 181 of the Housing Act 1985 gives Right to Buy applicants a right to ask the county court to deal with any disputes, and decide any questions, which arise during the RTB process.
- I consider that it is reasonable to have expected Mr X to use his right of appeal to the county court to address the delay in completing the Right to Buy application and decide the level of any reduction.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because is reasonable to expect him to use his legal remedy via the county court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman