Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax. The Council is not responsible for the alleged error on the valuation list. There is no fault in the Council billing in line with that list. We would not achieve a refund of Mr X’s current council tax. Mr X’s concerns about refuse collection and road maintenance should complete the Council’s complaint procedure before we will consider them.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about matters concerning his council tax. He says the Council is wrongly demanding he pay two days’ council tax from a previous period. Mr X also states he is not receiving all the Council services he believes he should despite paying his council tax.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended).
3. 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 decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation 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 organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and online information from the Valuation Office Agency about the relevant property’s council tax valuation.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA), not the Council, compiles and makes changes to the council tax valuation list. We have no power to investigate the VOA. The Council must bill for council tax following what the valuation list says.
8. The property Mr X owns was derelict. The VOA therefore removed it from the valuation list, so no council tax was due. Mr X says the VOA made an error of two days with the date of removal from the list. He is dissatisfied the Council is asking him for payment of council tax for those two days.
9. As explained above, only the VOA, not the Council, can decide a property’s listing for council tax purposes. The VOA’s decision about the date of the property’s removal from the list was not an administrative function of the Council. So, as paragraph 2 explained, we cannot investigate that. There is no fault in the Council billing in line with the valuation list. Also, even if that was not the case, two days’ worth of council tax, even in a relatively high council tax band, is not a significant enough matter to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to investigation.
10. Mr X’s property later became habitable and the VOA put it back onto the valuation list. The Council resumed billing and I understand Mr X is paying the council tax. Mr X says that, despite paying council tax, the Council does not collect his refuse or maintain the road outside. He wants a council tax rebate. Council tax is not a contract or payment for specific services. It is simply a tax to be paid by law. So we would not recommend the Council refund someone’s council tax even if the person says the Council has not provided services properly.
11. For these reasons, we shall not investigate Mr X’s points of complaint about his council tax.
12. If Mr X believes the Council is at fault about refuse collection and highway maintenance, he should take complaints about those matters through the Council’s complaint procedure. If he remains dissatisfied after completing the complaint procedure, he can bring those points to us. Those are separate points to the complaints about the council tax.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council is not responsible for the alleged error on the valuation list. There is no fault in the Council billing in line with that list. We would not achieve a refund of Mr X's current council tax. Mr X's concerns about refuse collection and road maintenance should complete the Council's complaint procedure before we will consider them.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman