Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints concerning the Council’s handling of his application to buy his home under the Right to Buy scheme. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and it is reasonable to expect Mr X to go to court.

The complaint

1. In short, Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to apply the pre - November 2024 discount level to his application to purchase his home under the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme.
2. Mr X says he was on holiday in the period before the discount levels were changed which left him with just 21 days to apply. He would like the Council to consider his circumstances and apply the discount as requested.
3. He also complains about the Council’s complaint response signposting him to the wrong Ombudsman scheme and delays by the Council in the progression of his application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. 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.
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council has responded to Mr X to explain it has no discretion to apply the discount level he wants. It advises has advised Mr X that ‘the relevant date’ for calculating the discount is the date when it serves the notice on him. And that he is not eligible for the earlier discount levels as his application was received after the policy changed in November 2024.
9. We will not investigate. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s response to justify an investigation. The Council is acting in accordance with national policy set by the government.
10. With respect to Mr X’s remaining concerns, it does seem the Council referred Mr X to the wrong Ombudsman. This caused a delay by a few months before he could complain to us. However, I do not see evidence any significant injustice arising to Mr X.
11. Mr X also raises an issue that he does not appear to have raised with the Council (as it is not addressed in its complaint response). Mr X complains of delays by the Council in the progression of his current Right to Buy application. We would not investigate. The Housing Act 1985, section 181 allows the county court to decide any dispute about the 'right to buy' process (except for disputes about the valuation of property which is not relevant to this complaint). It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his appeal rights as provided for in the Right to Buy procedure.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his legal appeal rights.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman