Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s conduct at a business rates court hearing and about additional charges the Council applied to his account. This is because we cannot investigate his complaint about the Council’s conduct at the court hearing and there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s recovery action.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complained about the Council’s conduct at a business rates court hearing and about additional charges the Council applied to his account. Mr B told us the Council deprived him of an opportunity to argue his case in court and enforcement agents have visited his home.

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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. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. 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
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the information Mr B provided, the Council’s responses to his complaint and Mr B’s comments on my draft decision.

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What I found

6. Mr B told us he believes the core issue that needs investigation is the way the Council operated in his case, and he is sure in many other cases. He says this prevented him having his day at court. The Local Government Act 1974 prevents us from considering complaints about what happened at a court hearing. We cannot investigate this part of Mr B’s complaint. The court is the body which makes the decision on a council’s application for a liability order. Liability orders can only be appealed through the courts.
7. When the Council responded to Mr B’s complaint, it said Mr B had claimed his business premises had been uninhabitable. The Council said it had applied its maximum exemption from business rates of three months while the property was unoccupied. The Council said it had advised Mr B he would need to appeal to the Valuation Office Agency if he disagreed with business rates being payable. It is for the Valuation Officer Agency to decide whether or not it should remove a property from the rating list because of its poor condition. Until then councils must charge business rates on the basis of the existing rating list. Business rates continue to be payable even when people have made an appeal to the Valuation Office Agency. So it is not fault for a council to take recovery action if the amount due has not been paid.
8. In July 2018 Mr B agreed a payment arrangement with the Council which the Council confirmed in writing. The court granted a liability order to the Council. This then allowed the Council to refer the case to enforcement agents to recover the amount due. In October 2018 Mr B paid most but not all of the amount the Council had told him he needed to pay. In those circumstances the Council was not at fault in proceeding with recovery action. Enforcement agents can charge fees for recovering the debt.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s conduct at the court hearing and there is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s recovery action.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman