Summary: Mr X complains that he suffered stress from the Council’s decision to send him a business rates bill for a property for which he was not liable. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter has been resolved and there is no evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that he suffered stress from the Council’s decision to send him a business rates bill for a property for which he was not liable.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X says that he received a business rates bill for £9,000 for which he says he was not liable. The Council says that the bill was sent to him as landlord as it was aware that the tenant had left. Mr X supplied the Council with further information about the property and the bill was cancelled and the liability placed elsewhere.
6. The Council says that Mr X should have told them that the tenancy had changed and, had he done so, the bill would not have been sent to him. I am satisfied that the bill was not sent in error but because of a lack of information from Mr X as to the owner of the tenancy. In the absence of fault, the Ombudsman would not investigate this matter.
7. The Council accepts that his complaint should have been escalated and a reminder letter not sent. However, I am not satisfied that these errors would warrant investigation of the complaint in themselves.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council warranting investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman