Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that Council fault caused delay in Mr X being able to sell a property as the complaint is made late to us and there are not good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he lost buyers for a property he was selling due to misleading advice from the Council about trees at the property and as the Council would not assist after he says a contractor carried out illegal work at the listed property in question. Mr X says this led to delays in the house being sold, which the Council should have taken account of in respect of the council tax it charged on the property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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

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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. Mr X acted as an executor for his late father's estate and dealt with the disposal of his late father's property.
7. Mr X complains a prospective buyer was lost in February 2021 after, he says, the Council gave misleading advice about the possibility of removing trees at the property. Mr X also complains the Council failed to help him in August 2021 regarding illegal work a contractor had carried out at the property.
8. Mr X complained to us in July 2023, which means his complaint is made late to us, as he did not complain to us within a year of him knowing about the problems. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner, and within a year of the alleged fault by the Council, and as such, as per paragraph two, we will not investigate, as I do not consider there are good reasons to do so.
9. Mr X considers the Council’s actions caused unnecessary delays in the house being sold, until October 2022, and that the Council ought to have therefore reduced the council tax it charged on the property.
10. We will not investigate this aspect of the complaint as in part, this issue is also brought to us late. In addition, however, Mr X had the right to apply to the Council for discretionary council tax reduction during this time, and the Council's decision on this would then have been appealable to the Valuation Tribunal (VT), had it been unfavourable. The VT is the independent body which decides disputes about council tax, something that we are not empowered to do. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have taken such action and we will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late and there are not good reasons to investigate now. We are not empowered to determine council tax charges or resolve disputes about them. It is unlikely we could have achieved any meaningful outcome for Mr X therefore in this regard plus he had the right to ultimately appeal to the VT if he considered his father's estate was due a discretionary reduction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman