Leicester City Council (25 018 688)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s cancellation of a ‘right to buy’ application. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his right to take court action.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council wrongly cancelled his ‘right to buy’ application. He says it should reconsider its decision because his personal circumstances changed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to buy his home from the Council. The Council issued a section 125 notice setting out the offer of sale to Mr X and the other applicants. The applicants’ personal circumstances then changed. The Council cancelled the sale and explained it could not amend the application after the section 125 notice had been issued. The Council told Mr X that if he wanted to buy his home, he would need to apply again.
- The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the right to buy (Housing Act 1985, section 181). Mr X can ask the court to decide if the Council should have cancelled his application. The court can make a binding order. So, the restriction in paragraph 3 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. 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 Mr X's home. The court is better placed than the Ombudsman to decide whether the Council was wrong to close Mr X’s ‘right to buy’ application.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable for him to use his right to take court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman