Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s liability for council tax when he bought his new property. This is because we are unlikely to achieve anything.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that he was held liable for council tax at his new property, but the property was not ready for him to move in to. He says he continued to pay council tax at his previous property in the meantime so feels he has been overcharged.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we are unlikely to achieve anything more. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organization knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organization of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
4. 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)
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. When we checked with the Council to see if Mr X had exhausted the Council’s complaints procedure it advised that Mr X had not submitted a formal complaint.
9. The Council also explained that it had recently contacted Mr X. The Council says Mr X accepted its reasons for not being able to exempt him from paying council tax. It added that Mr X had not escalated the complaint any further.
10. In any case, Mr X had a right of appeal to the specialist appeal tribunal – the Valuation tribunal. We would normally consider it could have been reasonable to expect him to use his appeal rights if he remains dissatisfied.
11. So, for all of the above reasons, we will not investigate as it is unlikely that we would achieve anything more by investigating.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman