Summary: We will not investigate Ms Z’s complaint about the council tax band applied to her property. This is because the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), rather than the Council, makes this decision and there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Ms Z, says her property is in a different council tax band to other similar properties in her street. Ms Z says she applied to change the banding of her property, but this was refused. She appealed the decision, but has not been made aware of the outcome. Ms Z requests that her property be re-banded to be the same as other properties nearby.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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

3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms Z and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Every domestic property has a council tax band. Ms Z complains that the council tax band applied to her property is incorrect. The council tax band is set by the VOA, rather than the Council.
7. The VOA is part of central Government and so not in our jurisdiction. If someone wants to change their property’s council tax band, they can apply to the Valuation Office and, if this is refused, they can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
8. Ms Z says that she has appealed against the decision not to change her property’s council tax band. This is therefore a matter for the Valuation Tribunal. There is no evidence of fault by the Council, as it does not set the council tax bands for individual properties.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms Z’s complaint about the council tax band applied to her property. This is because the VOA, rather than the Council, makes this decision and there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman