Westminster City Council — case 202113783

REPORT COMPLAINT 202113783 Westminster City Council 9 December 2021 Our approach What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint The complaint concerns the council’s decision that the resident must repay the Right to Buy discount when they sell their property. Determination (jurisdictional decision) When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events The resident is a leaseholder of the council. They purchased their property through the Right to Buy scheme, receiving a discount on the purchase price. This Service understands that the terms of the Right to Buy scheme sets out that, if an applicant sells their property within five years of purchasing it, the discount must be returned in full or in part. The resident’s circumstances have changed and they recently contacted the council to enquire about selling the property.

The council explained that the resident would need to refund a percentage of the discount offered during the Right to Buy process upon completion of the sale. The resident asked the council to consider exercising its discretionary powers to waive the repayment of the Right to Buy discount. The council refused and the resident submitted a formal complaint. The council provided its final response to the resident on 16 September 2021. This explained that, in exceptional circumstances the council could waive the repayment of the discount, however, having assessed the resident’s request and complaint, it could not agree to do this in this case.

The resident referred their case to this Service on the same day. Reasons Paragraph 39m of the Scheme states that… ‘The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator or complaint-handling body;’ The complaint concerns the council’s request that the resident return a percentage of the Right to Buy discount they received when purchasing their property. The Right to Buy process concerns the council’s actions as a local authority when disposing of its housing stock.

The resident’s complaint concerns the application of the terms of the Right to Buy agreement they entered into, and the council’s refusal to waive its right to request that the discount be paid back, this is also a process it carries out as a local authority. Complaints about local authorities fall within the jurisdiction of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). The Housing Ombudsman will not investigate complaints that fall within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman service.