Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to apply the council tax premium. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council added a 100% council tax surcharge to a property he owns. He says the Council should have checked who the owner was. Mr X wants £150 compensation for his stress and inconvenience.

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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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X bought an investment property in 2022. In October the Council found out that Mr X is the owner. Mr X set up a council tax account and asked to pay by direct debit. The Council says Mr X did not say he intended to rent the property to tenants.
5. Tenants occupied the property from January 2023 but the Council has no record of Mr X informing the Council of the tenants until 2024.
6. The Council thought the property was empty so imposed the council tax premium. The law allows councils to charge extra council tax on properties that have been empty for a set period of time.
7. Mr X received a bill for council tax which included the premium. In 2024 he repeated that he is the owner and said tenants had been living in the property since January 2023. He provided copies of the tenancy agreements in March 2024 and the Council removed the charge. Mr X has not been charged extra council tax and he does not have any arrears on the account.
8. Mr X complained and said the Council should have checked with him about the status of the property. He said the Council knew he had bought it as an investment so it was not realistic for it to assume he had left the property empty. Mr X asked for £150 in compensation for his stress and time and trouble.
9. The Council declined his request for compensation and explained it did not know until 2024 that the property was occupied. It said a property can be empty even though a company is listed as the owner. The Council explained it removed the premium once Mr X provided the tenancy agreements and it adjusted the council tax bills. It also said when it set up the account in 2022 it sent an enquiry form to the property address and to Mr X’s home address.
10. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The law allows councils to charge extra council tax on empty properties. The Council knew Mr X is the owner but it had no information that the property was occupied. Based on this information it applied the premium, having also sought information by making enquiries in 2022. There is no suggestion of fault in the Council’s decision to charge the premium and it acted correctly when it removed the premium. Mr X has not been charged the premium or incurred any charges. As there is no indication of fault there is no reason to start an investigation and no grounds to ask the Council to pay compensation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman