Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the cancellation of a Right to Buy application as Mr X could have asked the court to decide his case.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council cancelled his Right to Buy (RTB) application due to a historic debt Mr X says was not his and that he knew nothing about. Mr X says he has been caused stress and has lost out on the discount he would have been entitled to, had the application gone ahead.

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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.
3. 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

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

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My assessment

6. The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about RTB, under the Housing Act 1985, section 181 (except for disputes about the valuation of property). The restriction in paragraph three therefore applies to this complaint.
7. As the law expressly provides this route for resolving such disputes, we would normally expect applicants to use it, with legal advice if necessary. 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 house purchase. The court would provide a formal legal ruling whereas we could not.
8. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have used his right to go to court and we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have taken his case to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman