Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not giving Mr X a council tax exemption sooner. The complaint is late. Also, Mr X could reasonably have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council took until 2020 to award a Class Q council tax exemption to a property on which it had been demanding he pay council tax. He says this meant he experienced the upset of eight years of demands for payment, including by enforcement agents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. A Class Q exemption means no council tax is due on an unoccupied property for which the person liable to pay Council Tax is a trustee in bankruptcy.
8. Mr X was made bankrupt. The complaint concerns council tax for the period 2008 to 2014. The Council had refused to award a Class Q exemption covering that period, so it pursued Mr X for the council tax until 2020.
9. Mr X previously complained to us in 2019, including about whether the Council should give the Class Q exemption. Our decision on that complaint in April 2019 stated we would not investigate the complaint because:
• The complaint was late as Mr X had known since at least 2013 about the arrears the Council was demanding; and
• On the argument about the exemption, it was reasonable to expect Mr X to use his right appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, which could decide whether he was entitled to the exemption and therefore whether he owed the council tax.
10. We will not revisit the matters our previous decision covered, including the Council’s actions up to 2019.
11. Matters have moved on since our 2019 decision, as in 2020 the Council decided to award the Class Q exemption after all. However, I shall not investigate whether there was fault causing injustice in the Council not doing this sooner.
12. This is firstly because this new complaint, which Mr X made in June 2022, is also late. Mr X knew at least since July 2020 that the Council had given the exemption. So he would reasonably have known since then that he thought the Council should have done that sooner. He had been arguing for the exemption since before his 2019 complaint to us. So the restriction in paragraph 2 applies.
13. Mr X says this complaint is late because of difficulties in his life, including mental health problems. I note that and I sympathise. However, putting a complaint to us need not be time-consuming or difficult. It can be done in single telephone call, as Mr X knew from his previous complaint. The present complaint is not slightly outside the 12-month period; Mr X waited nearly two years before complaining. So I do not see good reason to accept the complaint late.
14. Secondly, even if the complaint was not late, or if I was persuaded to accept it late, there is another reason for not investigating. Mr X’s claimed injustice –unnecessary recovery action by the Council – relates to his argument that the Council should have given the exemption before 2020. However, he did not have to wait for the Council to award it. The Council was not the only body able to make that decision. The Valuation Tribunal could decide the matter.
15. I shall not revisit our previous decision that if Mr X disagreed with the Council’s refusal of the exemption up till 2019, he could reasonably have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. That leaves events from April 2019 (our previous decision) to 2020 (when the Council granted the exemption). Mr X told us at the time of his previous complaint that he had known for years about his right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The Council had also directed him to the Valuation Tribunal in 2019. The law expressly provides this appeal route, so we normally expect people to us it. Appealing is free and relatively straightforward. The Tribunal can make a binding decision, unlike the Ombudsman. Therefore I consider it would have been reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if he was dissatisfied with the Council not giving the council tax emption. It was not necessary for Mr X to wait, with recovery action continuing, until 2020 when the Council decided to award the exemption.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman