Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to allow Mr Z to share the right to buy a property with Mrs Y and Mr X. It is reasonable to expect Mrs Y and Mr Z to have gone to court to dispute the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of Mrs Y and Mr Z. They complain that the Council did not give Mr Z sufficient opportunity to submit documents in the required format to enable him to share the right to buy a property. The Council also did not allow Mr Z to address any issues with the documents before it refused his right to buy. Mrs Y and Mr Z consider that the Council’s actions prevented Mr Z from sharing the right to buy and caused significant distress to them. They want the Council to allow Mr Z to share the right to buy.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs Y is a Council tenant. She applied to the Council to buy her property and included Mr X and Mr Z in her right to buy application. The Council notified Mrs Y that she had the right to buy her property with Mr X. It did not agree Mr Z could share the right to buy with Mrs Y. This is because it considered Mr Z had not provided sufficient evidence in the correct format to show he had lived at the property for a period of 12 months before Mrs Y made the application.
7. The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the right to buy (except the valuation of the property). This includes disputes about whether a family member can share the right to buy a property. (Housing Act 1985, Section 181).
8. As the law expressly provides this route to resolve such disputes, we normally expect people to use it. The court could decide if Mr Z should share the right to buy and whether the old discount rules should apply to the application. We are mindful that there may be some cost to court action but that does not mean such action is not reasonable in the context of buying a property. The court can also provide a formal legal ruling which we cannot do. We therefore consider it is reasonable to expect Mrs Y to have used her right to go to court.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs Y and Mr Z’s complaint as it is reasonable for them to have gone to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman