London Borough of Hillingdon

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s valuation of Ms X’s discount market sale property as the Council is to investigate the complaint now.

The complaint

Ms X complains the Council undervalued her Discount Market Sale (DMS) property causing her a significant financial loss, and then failed to investigate the complaint she made about this. Ms X says she has also been caused distress and inconvenience.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

How I considered this complaint

I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.

I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

Ms X complained to the Council in February 2026 and then to us in June 2026, after not having received a complaint response.

The Council has confirmed it will provide a complaint response now and apologise to Ms X for the delay.

I consider this provides a suitable remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X from the Council’s complaint handling. If Ms X remains unhappy once the Council has responded, it is open to her to ask us to consider the substantive matter.

Final decision

We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council is to provide a complaint response and an apology for the delay in doing so. I consider this to be an appropriate remedy at this stage.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman