Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete Mrs X’s Right to Buy application. The Council is disputing the validity of her application due to its anti-fraud measures. It is reasonable for Mrs X to seek a remedy in the courts if she believes the Council’s actions are blocking her legal conveyance.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council delayed processing her Right to Buy application for her Council home since 2022. As result she says she lost an opportunity to arrange a mortgage at a lower rate of interest and now believes the Council has blocked her application because it says she has not satisfied its Anti Money Laundering due diligence requirements.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
5. I have considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X applied to buy her Council home in 2022. She says the Council delayed processing her application and she lost a mortgage offer as a result. Her second application for a mortgage was at a higher interest rate. The Council says she was represented by a solicitor and she submitted a RTB6 delay notice which the Council dealt with according to the government guidance at the time. We will not consider this matter which Mrs X was aware of more than 12 months before complaining to us.
7. In 2023 Mrs X arranged a new mortgage at a higher interest rate. She says that just before the mortgage offer was due to expire the Council delayed completion of her application because it was not satisfied that the documents she provided met the requirements of its Anti Money Laundering policy. The provisions of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 require councils to verify the sources of funding for house purchases under the Right to Buy legislation.
8. Mrs X says she cannot afford to seek another mortgage at the higher interest rates now charged and so she will lose her chance of purchasing her home.
9. The County Court may decide under the Housing Act 1985 s.181 any dispute about the right to buy including disputes about  the conveyance or transfer, lease, eligibility or size of discount. Because this is a legal conveyance and the Council has disputed her eligibility, Mrs X would need to challenge this in the court. We cannot determine legal disputes or disagreements about points of law.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete Mrs X’s Right to Buy application. The Council is disputing the validity of her application due to its anti-fraud measures. It is reasonable for Mrs X to seek a remedy in the courts if she believes the Council’s actions are blocking her legal conveyance.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman