Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s handling of a right to buy application. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains, on behalf of Ms Y, about the Council’s handling of Ms Y’s application to buy her council home.
2. Ms X says the Council failed to progress the application for different reasons. She wants the Council to offer the property at the historic value applicable during the first application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council’s response to Ms X says it no longer holds records relating to the earlier application going back almost 20 years. It says the historic applications cannot be revisited.
7. We will not investigate. This is because the complaint issues concern historic matters significantly outside of our usual 12-month time limit. And I have seen no good reason to explain the delay in raising the complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman