East Devon District Council (25 023 824)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Right to Buy discount as it is reasonable to expect the complainant to ask the court to decide her case.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council will not accept the Right to Buy (RTB) application she submitted on the final day before a Government cap was introduced which limited the discount on RTB purchases. Miss X blames this on issues she experienced with the Council’s website.
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 and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the RTB except for disputes about the valuation of property (valuation is not relevant to this complaint). (Housing Act 1985, section 181) So the restriction in paragraph three 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. The court could decide whether the Council should proceed with Miss X’s original application under the old discount rules. There might be some cost to court action, but that alone does not automatically make taking court action unreasonable, particularly in the context of a transaction for a valuable asset such as Miss X's home. The court’s decision is also a formal legal ruling. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Miss X to use the right to go to court.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect her to ask the court to consider her case.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman