South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council (23 008 806)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Right to Buy property valuation. This is because the District Valuer was in the best position to decide the matter.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains about the Council’s consideration of her Right to Buy application. Mrs B says the independent valuation of her property, arranged by the Council, significantly over-valued her home.
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 an investigation if we decide there is (or was) another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs B.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If a local authority accepts a Right to Buy application it must make an offer setting out the price of the property. This offer includes the authority’s valuation of the property.
- If the applicant disputes the authority’s valuation of the property, the applicant can ask for an independent valuation by the District Valuer. If the applicant or local authority dispute the District Valuer’s valuation, they can put in an appeal. The District Valuer will then review the valuation and make a second binding valuation.
- This is the process to challenge a local authority’s valuation of a property under the Right to Buy scheme.
- The Council says the District Valuer undertook a valuation of Mrs B’s property, which matched the initial valuation obtained by the Council.
- The District Valuer was in the best position to independently value Mrs B’s property. It is not our role to question the valuation made by the District Valuer. So, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because the District Valuer was better placed to consider the issue complained about.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman