Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council Tax liability and late billing. This is because Ms X has the right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it was reasonable to expect her to use this right. Additionally, parts of the complaint are late and there is not sufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council had not applied an exemption to a property owned by her late relative. She received backdated Council Tax bills for the property. The Council later sent bills to other people it deemed liable. Ms X complained the bills were sent late and with errors.
2. Ms X complained the Council has not provided her with information she requested about the Council Tax account.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Ms X was unhappy with how the Council handled the Council tax billing, for her late relative between 2020 and 2022. We will not investigate this because complaints about these matters are late and there are no good reasons why they could not be made sooner.
9. In 2023, the Council revisited an earlier decision about whether an exemption applied to the relevant property, and it decided it did not. It then issued further bills based upon its assessment of this liability. I will not investigate this part of the complaint because when the Council determined the exemption did not apply, and decided Ms X was liable for the Council Tax, Ms X had a right of appeal. Any dispute about liability can be determined by the Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal is an independent body which can determine any dispute about such decisions.
10. In 2024, because the Council had not been provided with probate information, it said it carried out a land registry search. It then said based upon information it obtained about new ownership of the property; it reissued bills to the new owners.
11. We will not investigate the complaint about the Council’s billing process, because there is not enough evidence of fault. The Council was at liberty to update the billing liability in line with new information it obtained.
12. Furthermore, Ms X disputes the liability. We will not investigate matters relating to liability because there is a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and only they can make a decision about these matters, we cannot.
13. Ms X has requested historical information about the Council Tax account. The Council says it is not able to share the information with her due to GDPR. Ms X can approach the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if she wants to make a complaint about her access to information as they are a body better suited to consider complaints about information rights.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she has the right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, parts of her complaint are late and there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman