Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council tax empty property premium as it is unlikely we will find injustice or fault causing Mr X a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not contact him directly to advise his property would be charged additional council tax after the Council decided to charge a council tax premium on empty homes in its area. Mr X says this has impacted him financially and that had he been notified earlier he could have taken steps to avoid the charge or at least prepare for it. Mr X wants the Council to remove the charge from the period before he was made aware of it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 it is unlikely we will find fault or we decide any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint response to Mr X, the Council said it wrote to him and other owners of empty homes in March 2024 to give advance warning of the change. It also explained that it updated its website with the relevant information about the change, and as required by law, published a notice about it in a local newspaper.
6. The Council acknowledged there was some delay in it sending Mr X an updated bill which meant that council tax was collected retrospectively. In recognition of this, it has set up a payment arrangement to enable Mr X to pay over a longer period.
7. I recognise that Mr X is unhappy about not learning of the empty property premium sooner. However, we will not investigate as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council, given the steps it took to make people aware of the change, as outlined in the complaint response, including meeting its statutory duty to publish a notice in a local newspaper. I appreciate that Mr X says he did not receive a personal letter, but the Council cannot be held accountable for delivery issues.
8. The Council acknowledges delay in billing Mr X but has mitigated this by allowing Mr X extra time to pay. I do not consider there is sufficient remaining injustice caused to Mr X therefore to justify our further involvement.
9. We cannot ask the Council to waive the council tax due.
10. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault or fault causing Mr X a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman