Summary: Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to calculate their council tax bill properly. Mr X received a large council tax bill he was not prepared for. The Council failed to administer the council tax bill properly. The fault of the Council caused Mr and Mrs X great distress. The Council should recalculate the council tax bill, adjust the amount owed and make an apology to Mr and Mrs X.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to calculate their council tax bill properly. They said fault by the Council resulted in large debt and has had a significant impact on their mental wellbeing.

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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. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. In this statement I refer to matters that took place from 2013 onwards, however I am investigating the actions of the Council from January 2024 only.
7. The history of the property owned by Mr and Mrs X is included in this statement to provide context.
8. Mr and Mrs X complained about late and inaccurate billing. I have investigated the administrative processes of the Council that led to the late bill being issued.
9. I have not investigated, nor am I questioning, issues about council tax liability.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered evidence provided by Mr and Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
11. Mr and Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

12. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)

13. There are a wide range of exemptions and discounts that a Council can apply to someone’s council tax account.
14. One of the council tax exemptions offered by the Council is for empty properties. The Council calculates the bill dependant on the amount of time a property remains empty. It refers to time passed as phases and attributes different discounts, or charges accordingly.
15. The Council splits the empty properties into three groups:
• Properties undergoing structural alteration and repair,
• Properties that are unoccupied and unfurnished, and
• Properties that are unoccupied and substantially furnished.
16. According to the current Council policy (updated in April 2024), some vacant properties can attract a council tax charge of up to 400%.
17. In January 2024, the Councils policy for unoccupied and unfurnished properties described discounts, and charges over five phases. Phase one attracted a discount. Phase two was for full council tax. Phase three and four applied to properties empty for between two to ten years and attracted charges. Phase five applied to properties empty for over ten years and not being actively marketed for sale or rent.
18. The Council also had a major repairs discount in operation at the time, which applied to Mr and Mrs X.
19. In exceptional circumstances, the law says councils can decide not to collect some or all of a council tax debt. (S13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended))

What happened

20. The following is a summary and includes information pertinent to the complaint. It is not a list of everything that happened.
21. Mr and Mrs X purchased a property in October 2021. The property needed renovation.
22. Mr and Mrs X told the Council about the purchase, and their intention to renovate the property. The Council applied a ‘long term unoccupied’ discount to their account.
23. Based on the discount provided by the Council Mr and Mrs X decided they could afford to renovate the property while they lived elsewhere. At every stage of the renovation, they updated the Council.
24. The discount was considered numerous times between October 2021 – November 2023. It was updated according to communication between Mr X and the Council. When the discount ended Mr and Mrs X moved into the property and finished outstanding work while living there. This happened in November 2023.
25. Mr and Mrs X said they received and paid nine council tax bills during the period October 2021 – January 2024.
26. In December the Council said it decided to review the account.
27. In January 2024 the Council wrote to Mr X. The Council said it had wrongly calculated the bills Mr X had paid since October 2021. It said this was because the property first became vacant in 2013. The Council told Mr X the empty property charges applied since 2013, consecutively. It said it should have charged him according to the property being empty in phase four of its policy, and not from the first phase, as it originally indicated.
28. The Council said that, instead of receiving the discount and lesser charges applicable to phases one to three of the discount, Mr X received a bill that reflected the property being empty since 2013.
29. The Council still applied the major repairs discount and did some calculations.
30. It sent Mr X a bill of nearly £9,000 that he had not expected to receive.
31. Mr X made a complaint to the Council.
32. The Council responded. In summary:
• It described the major repair discount that it had applied to the account,
• It said that although Mr X was not informed by the Council of the ‘applicability of the Empty Property Premium Charge’ he could find such information on the Council’s website or in annual council tax bills.
• Although it identified the Council had not provided Mr X with the correct information, it did not uphold his complaint. It offered no remedy.
• The Council apologised and said it had made changes because of what happened to Mr X, and
• It signposted Mr X to the Valuation Tribunal.
33. Mr X was unhappy with the complaint response. In March he escalated his complaint to stage two of its complaint procedure.
34. The Council responded. In summary, it said:
• It did not uphold his complaint.
• It apologised for administrative errors that led to the late bill.
• It told Mr X the Council advised him to contact the Valuation Office, should he wish to apply for the property to be removed from the banding list. It said this would have avoided the empty property charge.
• It apologised again for its error.
• It signposted Mr X to the Valuation Tribunal and the Ombudsman and invited him to make contact to set up a payment plan.
35. Mr and Mrs X asked to meet with the Council. Mr and Mrs X said the Council did not agree to a meeting. The Council said it did not refuse to meet with Mr and Mrs X.
36. The Council applied for a liability order.
37. The liability order hearing was adjourned to allow Mr and Mrs X to meet with the Council.
38. In October Mr X complained to the Ombudsman.
39. In November a face-to-face meeting took place between Mr and Mrs X and the Council.
40. The Council maintained its position about the outstanding debt. A payment plan was agreed. The Council wrote to Mr and Mrs X following the meeting. It said the liability order would confirm the action taken by Mr and Mrs X to address the arrears. It said the magistrates court would not consider why the debt accrued. It signposted Mr and Mrs X to the Ombudsman and the Valuation Tribunal.
41. Mr X appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. The Valuation Tribunal did not hear his case. It said he took too long to make an appeal. This point has no bearings on the findings of my investigation but is included for completeness.

My findings

42. There is no doubt the Council failed to bill Mr X properly. The empty property premium applied to the property purchased by Mr X. The Council should have explained this in October 2021. It should have communicated properly and transparently with Mr X.
43. This fault has been admitted by the Council. The cause of this fault appears to be inadequate record keeping.
44. Mr X received a significant bill he was not prepared for. He said had he known the charges applied, he would have moved into the property sooner. This matter, they said, has caused them great distress.
45. Mr and Mrs X demonstrated their willingness to pay their council tax on time from October 2021 onwards. They said they made the payments they thought they owed. They remained in communication with the Council.
46. It is within the Councils power to reduce or write off council tax debt. To date, other than an apology, the Council has offered no remedy to Mr and Mrs X.
47. Mr and Mrs X are now in almost £9,000 arrears, due to fault by the Council.
48. In response to my draft decision, the Council said it signposted Mr X to both the Valuation Tribunal and the Valuation Office Agency. The Council said it acted in a ‘reasonable timeframe’ to allow Mr X to ‘make informed decisions about options available.’
49. In the Councils stage two complaint response it referred to Mr X choosing not to apply to the Valuation Office to remove his property from the banding list while renovations took place. It said this would have avoided the charges. This was not accurate. The two matters are separate. The Council had no way of knowing the outcome of an application to the Valuation Office. It also cannot offer this as a reason why Mr X suffered injustice. Mr X suffered injustice because of its failings to calculate a bill properly, and to communicate with him in a timely manner. This is an example of poor complaint handling and caused Mr X further frustration. This was fault by the Council.
50. In commenting on my draft decision about this complaint the Council showed a keen interest to understand the Ombudsman’s findings and approach to remedy. It demonstrated its intention to learn from this matter, and to stop it happening again. The departmental manager at the Council said the Council had made changes to its approach and internal systems because of learning from this complaint. This is welcomed by the Ombudsman.

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Action

51. To remedy the injustice to Mr and Mrs X from fault by the Council, within four weeks of a final decision, the Council will take the following actions:
• apologise to Mr and Mrs X in line with our guidance on Making an Effective Apology. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings,
• write off debt accrued in financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023,
• recalculate Mr X’s council tax account, to reflect the written off debt, and
• make a symbolic payment of £150 to Mr and Mrs X to recognise the distress caused by fault of the Council.
52. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

53. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to implement the actions I have recommended, to remedy the injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman