Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a ‘right to buy’ application. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to take the Council to court.

The complaint

1. Ms X submitted an application to buy her home from the Council under the ‘right to buy’ scheme. The scheme has legal guidelines, and in 2025 Ms X requested an extension from the Council to complete the process.
2. Ms X complains the Council did not properly respond to her extension request until after the deadline, which means her application lapsed. In November 2024, the Government made changes to the scheme, which may mean that it would cost Ms X more to buy her home now. Ms X wants the Council to let her buy her home under the previous, more generous terms.
3. Ms X complains the Council has cost her money in solicitor and broker fees, and wants the Council to compensate her.
4. Ms X says the Council delayed her application intentionally, and the Council has racially discriminated against her.
5. Ms X also complains the Council did not respond to her complaints in good time, according to its own policy,

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. 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)
8. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by Ms X.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the right to buy (Housing Act 1985, section 181). Ms X can ask the court to decide if the Council Council’s action or inaction caused the failure of her application. The court can then decide whether the Council should apply the previous terms to any new application. The court can make a binding order. So, the restriction in paragraph 7 applies to this complaint. As the law expressly provides this route for resolving such disputes, we normally expect applicants to use it, with legal advice if necessary. Ms X may also bring a claim for the money lost in the application process. There might be some cost to court action, but that does not automatically make taking court action unreasonable, particularly in the context of a transaction for a valuable asset such as Ms X's home. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Ms X to use the right to go to court.
12. It is not proportionate for us to investigate Ms X’s complaint about discrimination by the Council. This is because we cannot decide whether the Council has breached the Equality Act 2010, and we are not investigating the substantive issue. I see no reason, in this case, why it would be unreasonable to expect Ms X to take court action if she wants a definitive ruling on this point.
13. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate the complaint. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to take court action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman