Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a council tax bill. This is because decisions about council tax bands are made by the Valuation Office which is not part of the Council. It was reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the tribunal. Also, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate matters which have been considered in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a council tax bill for a property he previously owned.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Ombudsman has no power to investigate the actions of the Valuation Office.
4. The law says the Ombudsman cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a))
5. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability.
6. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

Council tax

8. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) decides whether a dwelling should be treated as a separate dwelling for council tax purposes. The Council has to charge council tax based on the decisions made by the VOA. A person can ask the VOA to change the designation of a dwelling and they can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if they disagree with a decision about council tax banding. The law says the person must pay the council tax pending an appeal. The Council can apply for a liability order if they do not pay. A liability order is a court order confirming they must pay the council tax.

What happened

9. Mr X says the Council issued a demand for unpaid council tax. This happened after Mr X and his wife advertised their property for sale. The Council said the property had been advertised as including an “annexe (separate living accommodation)”. But the Council said this annexe had been rated for Business Rates purposes and was in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief. The Council had therefore referred the matter to the VOA, which had banded the annexe for council tax purposes. This led to the demand for unpaid council tax. The matter proceeded to court and a liability order was issued.

Assessment

10. If Mr X disagreed with the VOA’s decision, then there was a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal. It was reasonable for Mr X to use this right, because the Tribunal is an expert, independent body, set up by parliament to consider such issues. It is the appropriate body to decide disputes about council tax liability. This is not the Ombudsman’s role.
11. Also, council tax has to be paid, as billed, even if someone is in dispute with the Council. If someone does not pay their council tax, as billed, the Council will take recovery action. Councils have a duty to collect council tax. It is therefore unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would find the council to be at fault for taking recovery action against Mr X. We have no powers to question the court’s decision to award a liability order or to investigate what happened in court.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because it was reasonable for Mr X to use his right of appeal, and there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman