Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax liability as Mr X had the right to appeal against the Council’s decision to the Valuation Tribunal. We will not investigate recovery action taken by the Council as there is insufficient evidence of fault regarding this.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly held him liable for council tax at his rental property and unnecessarily asked him for personal, financial records. Mr X is unhappy the Council passed the account to its enforcement agents (bailiffs). Mr X complains he has been caused pain, suffering and inconvenience and has had to pay extra charges.

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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. 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)
4. 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)
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 (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.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have appealed to the Valuation Tribunal (VT) against the Council’s decision he disputes. The VT is the independent body set up by Parliament to resolve such matters. We are not empowered to do so and will not therefore investigate.
9. The Council obtained a court liability order for the Council tax debt in August 2024. Mr X did not complain to us until around a year and a half later. The complaint is therefore also made late and the restriction in paragraph four applies.
10. I recognise Mr X is unhappy the debt was passed to bailiffs, but the Council is entitled to take such action and Mr X’s complaint to us does not provide evidence of fault by the Council in this regard. We will therefore not investigate this aspect of the complaint.
11. The Council is legally entitled to request information it requires to determine council tax liability. Again, while I recognise Mr X may be unhappy about this, we will not investigate as it is unlikely we will find fault.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have used his appeal right to the VT and it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council in respect of bailiff action/information requested.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman