London Borough of Southwark (25 020 396)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Right to Buy (RTB) application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault, in how the Council made its decision, to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council wrongly refused his Right to Buy (RTB) application. He said this caused him distress.
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
- On August 2025, Mr X said the Council served a Notice to Quit (NTQ) on him. Subsequently, this led to his RTB application being refused. Mr X stated that this was procedurally flawed as the NTQ does not invalidate his tenancy therefore his eligibility for RTB remained.
- The Right to Buy scheme is set out in legislation. To qualify, an applicant must be a secure tenant and occupy the property as their only or principal home.
- The Council said it had evidence that Mr X was no longer occupying the property as his only or principal home. On that basis, it decided he was no longer eligible for RTB and closed his application. The Council explained that, while a tenancy may continue in law until a possession order is made, the RTB scheme has separate eligibility criteria which must be met. Therefore, we will not investigate because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions to refuse to transfer Mr X’s RTB application.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough fault, in how the Council made its decision, to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman