London Borough of Southwark (19 015 527)

Category : Housing > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 10 Feb 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Home Purchase Grant scheme. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, disagrees with the Council’s decision to reject his application for a Home Purchase Grant.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered information about the Home Purchase Grant scheme and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Home Improvement Grant

  1. This is a discretionary scheme by which the Council gives a grant to tenants to help them buy a home on the open market. The rules say a person is ineligible for a grant if they have rent arrears or an associated account. The policy, which the Council approved in 2005, says the applicant must have cleared all council debts before completing the purchase.

What happened

  1. Mr X took legal action against the Council. He lost in the Court of Appeal. A different court granted an attachment of earnings order (AOE) for the Council’s costs. Mr X has been making payments towards the costs via the AOE.
  2. Mr X is a council tenant. He applied for a Home Purchased Grant. The Council rejected the application because he still owes £5100 for the court costs.
  3. Mr X contests this decision. He says the Council could deduct the court costs from the amount of the grant or that the debt should be ignored because it is deducted from his salary. He says he has been a tenant for 30 years so is entitled to a grant. He also says that the Council’s refusal represents less favourable treatment under the Equality Act.

Assessment

  1. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The rules say that people who owe money to the Council cannot receive a grant unless they have repaid all the money before completing the purchase. Mr X owes money to the Council and, while he made suggestions for dealing with the debt, he has not said he will fully repay the debt before buying a property. Mr X says he is entitled to a grant because he has been a tenant for many years. However, his long-standing tenancy does not over-ride the fact that he owes money to the Council for court costs.
  2. The Council’s decision is consistent with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. The Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and cannot intervene simply because a council makes a decision that someone disagrees with. In addition, Mr X’s suggestions as to how the Council could treat his debt are not part of the grant scheme rules and I have not seen anything to suggest he is being treated any differently to anyone else under the Equality Act. All applicants are excluded if they owe money to the Council.

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Final decision

  1. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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