Lancaster City Council (25 016 733)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Dec 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Council tax premium because an appeal to a Valuation Tribunal has been used.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to impose a Council tax premium on his property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he appealed to a Valuation Tribunal about the decision to impose a Council tax premium on his property.
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint where an appeal to a tribunal has been used. The complaint is therefore out of jurisdiction.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because appealed to a Valuation Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman