Right to buy applications

This fact sheet is aimed primarily at council tenants who are experiencing problems with their right to buy applications and may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

I am unhappy about the way the council is dealing with my right to buy application. Can the Ombudsman help me?

Yes, in some circumstances. We consider whether the council has done something wrong in the way it went about dealing with your right to buy application which has caused you problems.

But, if you are complaining that the council is delaying in processing your application, we would usually expect you to use the ‘Tenant’s notice of delay’ procedure instead. This was put in place specifically to compensate tenants for any financial loss caused by unreasonable delay. Sometimes we might consider it unreasonable to expect a tenant to have used the procedure because of illness, disability or other personal issues. Then we might look at a complaint. 

We cannot normally look at disagreements about the purchase price of your home, because you can ask the District Valuer to determine the price. In some cases, tenants can ask the Government to get involved if they are having problems using their right to buy. Other disputes can be dealt with by the County Court and First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber Residential Property) and we would usually expect you to use these alternative remedies.

How do I complain?

You should normally complain to the council first. Councils often have more than one stage in their complaints procedure and you will usually have to complete all stages before we will look at your complaint.

Then, if you are unhappy with the outcome, or the council is taking too long to look into the matter – we think 12 weeks is reasonable – you can complain to us.

Usually, you should complain to us within 12 months of when you first knew about the problem. If you leave it any later, we may not be able to help.

For more information on how to complain, please read our step by step process

If you can consider my complaint what will the Ombudsman look for?

Some of the issues we might be able to look at are if the council:

  • gave you wrong advice on your right to buy your home
  • made a mistake in deciding whether you can buy it, or
  • failed to tell you information you need to know.

What happens if the Ombudsman finds that the council was at fault?

It depends on what went wrong and how that affected you. If we find that something has gone wrong in the way the council dealt with your right to buy application we can ask it to:

  • take action to put the matter right
  • pay a financial remedy for any financial loss
  • review or improve its procedures to make sure the same problems do not happen in future, or
  • vary the discount repayment period.

Examples of some complaints we have considered

Mrs X complained that the council wrongly cancelled her Right to Buy application without proper notice. When she reapplied, the valuation of her property had increased significantly. We found fault with the council because it had not issued one of the prescribed notices before cancelling the application. It failed to tell Mrs X about its reasons for cancelling the application and so give her the opportunity to respond to its concerns. The council had already agreed to reinstate the original purchase price. We recommended it also apologise and reimburse the legal costs Mrs X incurred in the first application.
We decided not to investigate Mr X’s complaint about the council’s delay processing his Right to Buy application. This is because Mr X could use an “operative notice of delay” form. And if the council failed to act on this, Mr X could use his right to go to the county court under s181 of the Housing Act 1985. We normally expect people to use this right and it was reasonable for Mr X to do so.

Other sources of information

See the Communities and Local Government leaflet on Your Right to Buy Your Home at www.gov.uk/government/publications/your-right-to-buy-your-home-a-guide--2

Our fact sheets give some general information about the most common type of complaints we receive but they cannot cover every situation. If you are not sure whether we can look into your complaint, please contact us.

We provide a free, independent and impartial service. We consider complaints about the administrative actions of councils and some other authorities. We cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it. If we find something has gone wrong, such as poor service, service failure, delay or bad advice and that a person has suffered as a result we aim to get it put right by recommending a suitable remedy.

July 2024 

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