City of Wolverhampton Council (25 019 359)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a ‘right to buy’ application. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to take court action.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council wrongly cancelled his application to buy his council home under the ‘right to buy’ scheme. He disputes the Council’s decision that he submitted documents late. Mr X says the Council’s decision has cost him financially and caused distress. Mr X wants the Council to reinstate his application under the original terms.
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 the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the ‘right to buy.’ (Housing Act 1985, section 181). The central issue is around the deadline for submitting documents under s125D of the Act. Mr X can ask the court to decide whether the Council was right to cancel his application and whether the Council should set it back to its previous state. The court can make a binding order.
- As the law expressly provides this route for resolving such disputes, we normally expect applicants to use it, with legal advice if necessary. Thise 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. And in any case, we could not direct the Council to accept Mr X’s application in the terms he seeks. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect
Mr X to use the right to go to court.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has an alternative legal remedy and it reasonable to expect him to take court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman