Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (25 027 815)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council unfairly closed a Right to Buy application as it is reasonable to expect the complainant to take this to court.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council cancelled her Right to Buy (RTB) application unfairly. Miss X wants her original application to be reinstated.
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
- In its complaint response to Miss X, the Council explained it closed her application as she did not provide the necessary proof of identification it required to progress it. Miss X says she did not receive the Council’s emails about this and considers they should have written to her or telephoned.
- Section 181 Housing Act 1985 provides a RTB applicant with the right to ask the County Court to determine any question arising under Part V of the Act (all the provisions relating to Right to Buy). The restriction in paragraph three therefore applies to this complaint.
- 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 which we are not empowered to do. For these reasons, it is reasonable to expect Miss X to use the right to go to court and we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is reasonable to take her case to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman