The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the lack of progress with Mr X’s application to buy his home from the Council. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his right to take court action.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has not progressed his application to buy his home from the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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
Mr X asked to buy his home in 2022. He states the Council has not progressed the matter. Mr X is dissatisfied because in the meantime he has continued paying rent and property prices have risen. He is also dissatisfied because he wants to complete the purchase of his home.
The county court can decide any matter about the ‘right to buy’ (apart from some points about a property’s valuation, not relevant to this complaint). (Housing Act 1985, section 181) Here, the county court could decide whether any rent Mr X has paid since his ‘right to buy’ application should be offset against the eventual purchase price. It could also decide if the Council is unreasonably failing to progress the matter. The court could make binding orders about offsetting the rent and about making the Council progress matters if the court were to see fit. Therefore the restriction in paragraph 2 applies.
The law expressly provides this route for such problems, so we normally expect people to use this route. The court can make binding orders, whereas we could only make recommendations if we were to investigate and uphold the complaint. There is a potential cost to court action. However, in the context of buying a valuable asset such as a home, the possible cost of court action does not make it unreasonable to expect someone to go to court. Mr X could also ask the court for his costs if his court action succeeds. Taking court action might involve getting legal representation, but on an important matter such as buying a home, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to seek legal advice as appropriate. Overall, I consider it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his right to take court action.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to use his right to take court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman