The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of the right to buy application and later cancellation of application. It would have been reasonable for the complainant to have followed the statutory process and taken the matter to court. Also, it is unlikely we could find fault with the Council’s decision to cancel the application. Finally, we cannot consider complaint about the Council’s actions as landlord.
The complaint
The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s management of his purchase of his property under the right to buy scheme. He says the Council cancelled the application without telling him and refused to refund him for work carried out to the property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains the Council refuses to refund him for repairs carried out to the property at the request of the proposed mortgage provider.
We cannot investigate complaints about the Council’s actions as a landlord. The part of Mr X’s complaint about disrepair to his home is therefore outside our jurisdiction with no discretion to investigate.
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to warn him that it planned to cancel his application as it is unlikely we would find fault. The Council issued Mr X with a notice of delay by recorded delivery and sent a copy to his solicitor. It cancelled the application when it did not receive a response.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delays to the right to buy process because he could have taken the matter to court. It is unlikely we could find fault on its decision to cancel his application.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because: Complaints about the Council’s actions and landlord such as repairs to the property are outside out jurisdiction If he was concerned about delays to the right to buy process, Mr X could have taken the matter to court; and It is unlikely we could find fault on its decision to cancel his application.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman