Leeds City Council (23 001 952)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 May 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax liability, and the Council’s response to Mr X’s contact about it, as the liability issue is best dealt with by the Valuation Tribunal, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.
The complaint
- Mr X is a landlord and complains the Council has wrongly held him liable for council tax for a period when his tenants were responsible. Mr X complains the Council has not responded to his contacts about this or his complaint. Mr X wants compensation for the worry he says this has caused him and for the matter to be brought to a close.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- While I recognise Mr X remains dissatisfied with how the Council has dealt with this matter, I do not consider we should investigate. Disputes about council tax liability are dealt with by the Valuation Tribunal (VT) and Mr X had the right to appeal to it, following an appeal to the Council, once the Council had not responded. I consider it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have known this as a landlord or for his managing agents to have advised him how to proceed and that therefore it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed. Had Mr X appealed, the injustice he claims ie worry from waiting for the Council to respond, would not have arisen.
- We are not empowered to decide whether Mr X is liable for the council tax or not and so we cannot bring this matter to a conclusion.
- For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have appealed against the Council's decision to the VT and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman