Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the cancellation of Mrs X’s ‘right to buy’ application. This is because it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to take court action.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council cancelled her application to buy her home from the Council as she had not provided all necessary documents. She says the Council had not properly told her what it needed or the deadline for supplying the documents and had not contacted her after receiving some information to ask about the remaining information. Mrs X says this resulted in abortive costs.

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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. 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

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the 'right to buy' except for disputes about the valuation of property (the latter point is not relevant to this complaint). (Housing Act 1985, section 181) So the restriction in paragraph 2 applies to this complaint.
6. As the law expressly provides this route for resolving such disputes, we normally expect applicants to use it, with legal advice if necessary. I note Mrs X has had 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 Mrs X's home. The court could also make a binding order if it saw fit, which the Ombudsman could not. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use the right to go to court.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect her to take court action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman