Council - Right to Buy

Mancunian

Anyone know much on this.

Its took the new organisation looking after my local council houses, 10 weeks to get me to the stage 2 letter..... ie stating I am allowed to buy it.

It says something like... I should have a price to buy within 8 weeks?

can anyone confirm the situation and if they have took longer is there any recompense?

many thanks

JasonLVC

It's been a while since I was a Right to Buy Manager but the rules were, as you state, 8 weeks to get to the formal offer stage.

It's relatively simple so shouldn't take that long but some councils or associations can drag their feet to disuade you from buying your house!. But, there also may be genuine reasons, have the forms been lost in the post?. It does happen. Have you contacted the RTB team and asked what the delay is?.

You should explore the reasons as to why there is a delay. It could, and most will be, a genuine reason. Did you fill the forms in correctly, is it a joint application?. They will check against benefit teams, as well as instruct a surveyor to visit you and value the property inside and out and so can take a few weeks - but certainly not 8. They do seem to be a little slow here.

There is no compensation for you. Your only recourse is to write to the landlord requesting an immiediate response or reason for the delay. After that, if they ignore you, write to the Ombudman who will formally ask the Chief Executive of the landlord why the delay in your application.

The most they can then do is get a valuation done on your property and back-date the valuation to the time the valuation should have been done. That is, if 8 weeks was January 01 then you should have had a vaulation by 01 January. If the landlord don't value it until March 1 then the house may have gone up slightly in value and so why should you pay a wee bit extra for the landlord' delay - so the valuer will adjust it to take into account this delay - but to be honest, it will be a few pounds (not even hundreds). If they have many complaints then they can be inspected and ordered to improve their service delivery - but you and I know that ain't ever gonna happen.

There are no other provisions in the legislation for you to seek compo as it is an extra-statutory concession and whilst frustrating, remember, you will be getting a house at around 60% less the market value - a better compensation in anyone's book.

Cardinal-Red

I may have misread your post, but are you asking if it's possible for you to claim compensation if there is a delay in your application....?

Mancunian

Cardinal-Red wrote:

I may have misread your post, but are you asking if it's possible for you to claim compensation if there is a delay in your application....?

yes,,,Jason answered it for me