Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a demand for council tax. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council which has caused Mr X personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly advise him about council tax for an unoccupied property, which led to an unexpected bill. Mr X says that if the Council had given him the correct advice, he might have acted differently and rented out the property. This would have meant Mr X was not liable for the council tax. Mr X would like a discount applied to his council tax bill.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

4. Mr X was the executor of a deceased relative’s estate, which included a residential property. In March 2018, the Council wrote to Mr X and said the property would be exempt from council tax, assuming the circumstances remained the same.
5. In November 2018, the Council wrote to Mr X with a revised exemption – for the first six months of the year. The Council also sent a council tax bill for October 2018 to March 2019. In March 2019, Mr X received another council tax bill for April 2019 to March 2020.
6. Mr X sold the property in June 2019. The Council sent him a demand for council tax from October 2018 to when the property was sold. Mr X says that because of what the Council told him in March 2018, he did not expect to have to pay council tax.
7. The Council has responded to complaints from Mr X. It has accepted that it should have sent Mr X an ‘Initial Probate Letter’. This would have explained the council tax emption for the property would end six months after the estate’s Grant of Probate was issued. This was in October 2018 – from which point Mr X became liable for council tax. But the Council also said that in November 2018 it had sent the correct notifications about payment. It said the bill for October 2018 to June 2019 was correct and Mr X was therefore liable for the property’s council tax. The Council also said that if Mr X could “provide a letter from the solicitors confirming that there is no money left in the estate our office can look into whether payment of the full balance…remains applicable.”
8. In deciding whether to investigate a complaint the Ombudsman needs to consider various tests. These included the likelihood of finding fault. We also need to consider what injustice flows from the alleged fault.
9. The Council has accepted it did not correctly advise Mr X that he would be liable for council tax six months after the estate’s Grant of Probate was issued. This is fault. But, even if the Council had sent Mr X the correct letter, he would still have been liable for the council tax at the heart of his complaint. The outcome would therefore have been the same. Mr X says he might have rented the property out if he had known about having to pay council tax. But the Ombudsman needs to make a decision based on what did happen – not what might have happened. Having considered the evidence available, there is not enough evidence of fault causing injustice to warrant an investigation.
10. Also, the Council has said that if Mr X can provide more information, it will consider again if the council tax should be paid. Mr X says this will be difficult because he did not instruct a solicitor when dealing with the estate. I understand Mr X’s frustrations, but it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could achieve anything more for Mr X.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council which has caused Mr X personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman