The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a refused ‘right to buy’ application. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to take the Council to court.
The complaint
Miss X complained the Council failed to communicate properly with her about her application to buy her home from the Council, which meant she missed appointments. She said this led to her application being refused and her losing the opportunity to buy her home under the previous, more generous, arrangements.
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 the information provided by Miss X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council scheduled appointments for it and Miss X, regarding her application. Miss X says the Council did not communicate with her about the scheduled appointments, and so they were missed.
Miss X also says the Council did not tell her it would only correspond by the Council’s online portal, which meant she did not know she had to submit certain documents by a certain date. As a result, her application was cancelled.
The law allows the county court to decide any dispute about the right to buy (except for disputes about the valuation of property, which is not relevant here). (Housing Act 1985, section 181). Miss X can ask the court to decide if the Council was right to close her application. The court can make a binding order. So, the restriction in paragraph 3 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. There might be some cost to court action, but that 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. 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 take court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman