Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has charged him for council tax despite the property being rented out to a tenant at the time. Mr Y says he is now being asked to pay council tax from December 2015 onwards, which he feels is unfair.
2. Mr Y feels extremely distressed and feels it is unfair he is being asked to pay council tax which he does not owe.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information Mr Y and the Council provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y rented out his property between December 2015 and April 2022. However, he says his tenant failed to pay the council tax. Mr Y then complained in May 2022 as the Council said he was liable for the council tax for the full period as it had conflicting information about the liability.
6. Mr Y later applied to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), notifying them that the property had been demolished during the period and should not have been liable for council tax. He also provided information to the Council to confirm the tenancy in November 2022 and approached us.
7. We made enquiries to the Council about Mr Y’s complaint. It provided us with correspondence which confirmed Mr Y had approached the VOA to challenge its banding of his property. It also confirmed that following the information Mr Y had provided to the Council at the end of November, it had contacted Mr Y and confirmed that it had reviewed his case and considered his liability as beginning when the tenancy ended in April 2022. It said it was now awaiting confirmation to enable it to remove the property from its Valuation list, and issue Mr Y with a corrected bill for council tax, which would not include the period from 2015 to April 2022.

Analysis

8. The VOA decides what band a property should be in for council tax. The VOA is not part of the Council. The Council cannot increase or decrease a council tax band. The Council must charge council tax based on the banding decision made by the VOA. The Council cannot change a VOA decision.
9. The Council is responsible for collecting the council tax amount as set by the VOA. Those who dispute liability for council tax or any decision by the VOA can approach the Valuation Tribunal to appeal.
10. However, in this instance, the Council were holding Mr Y responsible for the amount based on the information it held, which was conflicting. Mr Y says this is because the previous tenant had given it false information.
11. The Council are responsible for the collection of the council tax, and so in this role, pursued Mr Y for the amount owed. While the Council held incorrect or conflicting information, it considered Mr Y responsible for the council tax and it followed the VOA’s banding decision. As it has a duty to do this and the collect the tax, it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman