Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the cancellation of a Right to Buy application as it is reasonable to expect the complainant to have sought a remedy in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to cancel his Right to Buy (RTB) application. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly communicate with him or to give him the chance to resolve the issue with his application. Mr X says this affected his mental health and caused him to lose out on a discount on the purchase price of his property.

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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 a 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 on whether the application should be re-instated whereas we are not empowered to make such a decision.
8. For these reasons, I consider it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have taken his case to court and we will not therefore 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