Fareham Borough Council (24 009 456)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Nov 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council conducted a property sale. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. And we cannot decide whether the Council has discriminated against the complainant.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council withdrew from a property purchase without him asking or giving permission. He says the Council discriminated against him and refused to reinstate the sale. He also says the Council was hostile and discriminatory in the way it dealt with his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. It offers protection, in employment, education, the provision of goods and services, housing, transport and the carrying out of public functions.
- The Equality Act makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. They must also have regard to the general duties aimed at erasing discrimination under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
- We cannot decide if an organisation has discriminated against Mr X and breached the Equality Act as this is a question for the courts. But we can make decisions about whether an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.
- Mr X made an offer to buy a house from the Council. The information I have seen suggests there were delays during the conveyancing process. The Council says it received a message from the estate agent handling the sale saying Mr X was withdrawing from the purchase. The Council accepted this information and put the property back on the market.
- Mr X says he did not tell the estate agent he was withdrawing from the purchase and that the estate agent confirmed this with the Council. He wanted the Council to reinstate the process and allow him to buy the property. The Council refused to do so and sold the property to someone else.
- I understand Mr X believes the Council has discriminated against him due to his sexual orientation. He says he “felt there was a real dislike of me – for absolutely no reason I could think of, apart from the awareness of my ‘different’ sexual orientation”. However, from documents I have seen there is no evidence of discrimination against Mr X which supports this claim. Nor is there any evidence that his sexual orientation was a factor in the progression of the property purchase process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. And we cannot decide whether the Council has discriminated against the complainant as this is a matter for the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman