Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a disputed council tax bill as Mr X can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council is wrongly charging him council tax for his rental property. Mr X says he has been unable to get through to the council tax department at the Council over the telephone and he says the Council has refused to deal with the matter as a complaint

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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. 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 any alleged fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Valuation Tribunal (VT) is the independent body that decides disputes about council tax liability, on appeal. We are not empowered to make such determinations. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal to the VT, and follow the prescribed appeal procedure, and we will not therefore investigate the council tax complaint.
8. I recognise Mr X’s frustration regarding the problems he describes in contacting the Council but we will not investigate these as a separate matter as in isolation they do not cause Mr X a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement. The substantive claimed injustice arises from the Council tax liability decision and this can be addressed by another body, the VT.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can appeal to the VT against the Council’s decision on his council tax liability.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman