Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s ‘right to buy’ application and repairs to her home. Miss X can reasonably take court action on the right to buy matter. The Ombudsman has no power to consider the repairs matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council:
• Has delayed unreasonably since 2018 progressing her application to buy her home; and
• Delayed completing repairs to the property.
2. Miss X says this caused stress, put her to time and trouble pursuing matters and affected her financially, including with the expiry of a cheaper mortgage offer and the closure of an individual savings account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
4. 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
5. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X, a Council tenant, sought the right to buy in 2018. The purchase is not yet complete. If a ‘right to buy’ applicant believes the Council is delaying unduly, they can serve delay notices on the Council. After a delay notice takes effect, any rent the person then pays is deducted from the purchase price when the sale completes. I understand Miss X served a delay notice in September 2022. It is not the Council’s fault if Miss X did not serve notice to protect her financial position about rent payments before then.
9. The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the right to buy, except for disputes over the property’s value. The restriction in paragraph 3 therefore applies to Miss X’s complaint about delay with her right to buy application. If Miss X believes the Council has delayed unreasonably and should progress matters quicker, she can ask the court to make an order to that effect. Miss X has had that right throughout the process. The court can consider her case and any defence the Council might put forward.
10. As the law expressly provides this route for resolving such disputes, we normally expect applicants to use it. I note Miss X has access to legal advice. There might be some cost to court action, but that in itself does not automatically make taking court action unreasonable, particularly in the context of a transaction for a valuable asset such as Miss X’s home. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Miss X to use her right to go to court.
11. The Council’s actions about the disrepair concern its management of social housing as a registered social housing provider. Therefore the restriction in paragraph 4 applies. The law prevents us considering this point.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she could reasonably use her right to take court action about the ‘right to buy’ delay and because the law prevents us considering the repairs point.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman