Ron Harvey, of Butts Farm Estate, appeared at the High Court on Wednesday to outline his case for a judicial review claiming the council had misled tenants in its literature promoting the transfer of its 7,200 properties to the new Richmond Housing Partnership.

He also said that under legislation tenants should have been consulted about proposals. Instead he said the council ran a campaign of promises to win votes. The case was dismissed but Mr Harvey said he hoped the council would now take his concerns more seriously and investigate the matters raised.

He is also considering appealing to the High Court against the council's decision to accept the findings of the tenant ballot, which allowed the transfer to go ahead. A council spokesman said: "Richmond Council is pleased that we can now proceed with the transfer which 64 per cent of tenants voted in favour of."