Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council Tax liability. This is because Mr X has or had the right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use or to have used that right, we cannot investigate court action and it was reasonable for Mr X to have used his right to take part in the court action.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly assessed his Council Tax liability from 2006. He says the Council did not make reasonable adjustments for his disability, affecting his ability to contest the Council obtaining a charging order on his property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and references to Council correspondence.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mr X disagrees with the Council’s assessment of his Council Tax liability. He says the Council did not properly consider his disability when applying exemptions and discounts. These decisions go back to 2006. Mr X had a right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal against the Council’s decisions and he may still have that right regarding any recent decisions. So, the restriction in paragraph 3 applies here. I note Mr X’s medical conditions and disability. Nevertheless, Mr X has been able to complain to the Council and the Ombudsman. Also, Mr X could ask the Valuation Tribunal for any necessary adjustments to accommodate his disability. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have used or to use this right. So, we will not investigate this point, as mentioned in paragraph 2.
11. In addition, most of the Council Tax bills Mr X says were wrongly calculated were well over 12 months before he complained to us in October 2024. The restriction in paragraph 5 applies to those events. Mr X could have reasonably complained to us sooner. So, we will not investigate the complaint about late matters now. Furthermore, it is unlikely we could reach a clear enough view now about matters from so long ago.
12. Mr X says the Council wrongly got a charging order on his property. When the court made the interim charging order, Mr X had 28 days to object to the court. The court, not the Ombudsman, had the power to decide whether the order should be made. Mr X could reasonably have used his right to take part in the court action.
13. Mr X also says the Council was not fair in its processing of the charging order and did not consider his need for a reasonable adjustment due to his disability. We cannot investigate the Council’s actions during court proceedings, as mentioned in paragraph 6.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. Mr X could reasonably have used his rights to go to the tribunal and to court. Much of the complaint is also late without good enough reason to investigate it now. We cannot consider how the Council handled court action or the decision reached by the court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman