Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a backdated council tax bill. This is because part of the complaint is late and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify investigation from late 2024.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council failed to assess his property for council tax for 11 years. He says it wrongly advised him in 2014 his property would be subject to business rates not council tax, and it would zero rated due to small business rate relief. However, in 2025 the Council sent him a council tax bill backdated to 2014.
2. Mr X says the council tax liability is for a period over six years old and he believes this is statute barred (not recoverable due to being out of time). The Council refused Mr X’s offer to pay the previous six years and his request that the Council to write off £10,000 for periods over six years old.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).
4. 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. there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council regarding the matters in paragraph 1 and 2.
7. The Council replied that its records did not show it received Mr X’s requests for council tax bills in 2014 and due to its data retention policy records were no longer available. It said even if Mr X’s property was deemed liable for business rates, it would still have required assessment.
8. The Council noted Mr X’s request for it to write off £10,000 on the basis the debt was statute barred. However, it did not agree that the council tax was statute barred. It said the Council had six years to apply for a liability order from the date it issued the bill. The six year rule did not limit how far back it could apply council tax liability. Therefore, the Council said the full amount was payable.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in assessing liability and sending council tax bills from 2014. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for this. It is reasonable to have expected Mr X to complain within 12 months of being aware of the claimed fault by the Council. Similarly, if Mr X believed the property was zero rated for business rates, it would be reasonable to expect him to complain within 12 months that he had not received written confirmation of the Council’s decision.
10. We will not investigate events from November 2024 because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation. The Council has explained why the backdated bill is not statute barred.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint about the Council’s actions in 2014 is late and there are no good reasons for this. There is not enough evidence of fault regarding the backdated bill to justify investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman