Stoke-on-Trent City Council (23 003 649)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Jun 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X says the Council is trying to charge him council tax for a property that was unhabitable in 2019. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it has been made late outside of our usual time period for accepting complaints and there are no good reasons to investigate now.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to take enforcement action against him for unpaid council tax from 2019. Mr X says he should not have been charged council tax as the property in question was unhabitable in 2019.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- 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)
- The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as it has been made nearly four years after he became aware of the complaint matters. I see no good reason why he could not have complained to us earlier than he has.
- Additionally, even if he had complained to us at the time, it is unlikely we would have investigated. This is because the Valuation Tribunal is the specialist tribunal for deciding council tax liability decisions. And it is likely we would have found it reasonable for Mr X to use his right of appeal to the specialist tribunal to determine if the property in question was liable for council tax.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been made late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman