Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Council Tax banding change and the Council’s decision to backdate this. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed to the Tribunal about the banding and it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision to backdate the increased charges.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council was wrong to issue a backdated increased Council Tax bill for a property he no longer owns. He complains about the way the Council handled this, including his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X owned a property from October 2016 to December 2022. When he sold the property he received a final Council Tax bill which he paid.
7. The Council says in July 2023 the Valuation Office told it of a change in the Council Tax banding for the property, backdated to 2016. The Council told Mr X of this and says it issued bills in November 2023.
8. Mr X disputes the banding change. He has been told of his right of appeal of the banding to the Valuation Tribunal Service. The Council has told Mr X it has suspended any Council Tax recovery pending any appeal outcome and his complaint to us. It says should any appeal not be fully successful it will agree to an instalments plan. It says it has a duty to recover the extra costs.
9. Every domestic property has a Council Tax band. The Valuation Office, which is part of central government, decides this. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed its decision to change the band. This means we should not investigate which band the property should be in and when that should start from. This is the crux of his complaint to the Council.
10. It is unlikely we could find fault in the Council’s decision to issue backdated bills. The law allows this.
11. Mr X is unhappy with how the Council replied to his complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed to the Tribunal. And it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision to recover backdated increased Council Tax charges.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman