Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a late council tax bill as it is unlikely any Council fault caused Mr X a significant injustice and we cannot determine liability.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has issued a late council tax bill to his deceased father’s estate, two years after the estate has been settled. Mr X says there is no remaining money to pay the bill.

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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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or we cannot achieve the outcome a complainant seeks
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In its complaint responses to Mr X, the Council says Mr X did not inform it when probate had been granted or that the property had been sold. This resulted in the delay in an up-to-date bill being issued.
7. As executor, Mr X, or whomever was acting as executor, had a legal responsibility to deal with the financial matters of Mr X’s father, including updating the Council in respect of probate and the sale of the property. The Council says this was not done and as such I do not consider it is likely that the injustice Mr X now claims arose from Council fault.
8. We cannot determine who is liable for outstanding tax on the property. The Valuation Tribunal is the Government agency which can do this and the Council has advised Mr X of this.
9. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely Council fault led to the injustice Mr X claims and we cannot determine disputes about liability.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman