Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to properly administer a Right to Buy application as the complainant could have taken her case to court.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to properly administer her Right to Buy (RTB) application with significant delays, poor communication, and a lack of clear and consistent information throughout. Miss X says this prevented her from her legal entitlement to progress her RTB. Miss X wants the Council to reinstate her RTB application.

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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. There are set time limits within which a landlord must complete parts of the RTB process. If the landlord delays, there is a procedure provided in law whereby the purchaser can serve notices on the landlord which can result in a reduction in the sale price. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to have utilised this procedure.
7. 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.
8. 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 for rulings on the matters other than delay she complains to us about, and we will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is a procedure provided to address delay in RTB sales and the courts can decide other disputes arising. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to have used these procedures and we will not therefore investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman