Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax because an appeal to a valuation tribunal has been used and the complaint is partly out of time. There is also insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the way the Council holds him liable for Council tax on his properties

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X owns three properties. He appealed to a valuation tribunal in 2020 as to whether Property A was his main residence. The valuation tribunal rejected his appeal. His two other properties had empty homes premiums applied to them.
9. This part of the complaint is out of time and out of jurisdiction as a right of appeal to a valuation tribunal was used.
10. He told the Council in 2023 that he lived at Property B. The Council agreed and moved his Council tax liability (as a residence) to Property B and the liability backdated.
11. The Council says that an overpayment of Council tax had been made by Mr X. It says that this payment was transferred to Mr X’s other properties as arrears existed at these.
12. Any dispute about liability for Council tax can be appealed to a valuation tribunal. The valuation tribunal is an independent body which can determine any disputes about liability, discounts, premiums or exemptions from Council tax. I see no reason why such an appeal could not be made in this case if a dispute remained.
13. The Council’s decision to allocate the overpaid Council tax to his other properties is not administrative fault and, as the debt on the other properties would have to be paid in any event, no significant injustice would have been caused by this action.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of the complaint is out of time, a right of appeal to a valuation tribunal was used (and could be used) and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman