Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decisions to apply a council tax premium on the complainant’s empty properties. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s implementation of its council tax premium policy.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to levy council tax premiums on his large number of empty properties.
2. Mr X says he has been actively marketing the properties and he has provided evidence of this to the Council. He says the Council’s actions are contrary to statutory guidance issued by central government.
3. Mr X says he is being charged around £15,000 in additional premiums.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review 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 use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The guidance referred to by Mr X refers to the Council’s discretionary powers and is not mandatory.
10. This means the Council has powers to levy charges on its empty properties. This applies even if Mr X considers the Council has not considered his information properly about his attempts to market the empty properties actively.
11. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether anyone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
12. I note that the Council is considering Mr X’s request for a reduction under its discretionary powers. Once the outcome is known and if Mr X disagrees, he will be able to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal is an independent, expert body whose decisions are binding on the Council.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to apply council tax premiums on his empty properties.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman