Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council wrongly billed her for four years of backdated business rates. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the rateable value of her premises is too high as the Valuation Office Agency is responsible for setting the value and its decision carried a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council billed her for four years of backdated business rates. She believes her business premises were wrongly assessed as the rateable value is higher than other premises in the area which are the same size. She says this has caused her financial hardship.

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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, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, 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)

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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Ms X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Ms X and considered her comments.

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What I found

5. Business rates are a local tax on business premises. The amount of business rates payable for a premises depends on its rateable value and the rate poundage, which is set nationally by the Secretary of State for the Environment.
6. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) keeps the business rating list and is responsible for deciding if a property should be rated, the rateable value and the date each property enters and leaves the list. Its decisions are appealable to the Valuation Tribunal.
7. Ms X has owned business premises for more than 30 years. She occupied the premises until she retired in 2016 and they have been empty ever since. While the premises were occupied Ms X was entitled to small business rates relief which cleared her liability for business rates. However, when she retired and left the premises empty she was no longer entitled to the relief.
8. Ms X says she informed the Council she had retired in 2016 but the Council says it has no record of this. It says it only found out the premises were empty in 2020 when it wrote to Ms X to query its status and her eligibility for a grant for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. When Ms X confirmed the premises had been empty since 2016 the Council issued a bill for business rates going back to 2016; this totalled more than £9,000. It entered into a payment arrangement with Ms X which required her to pay £200 per month.
9. Ms X says the Council should not have waited four years to send her the bill and that the rateable value of her premises is too high compared with others in the area.

Assessment

10. Ms X has provided no evidence to show she informed the Council the premises were empty when she retired in 2016 and due to the amount of time that has passed since this time it is unlikely we could show she did.
11. The Council sent Ms X a bill as soon as she confirmed the date on which she stopped occupying the premises and agreed to a payment arrangement as the amount owed was high. There is no evidence of fault in this approach.
12. While Ms X also disputes the amount of business rates payable on the basis the rateable value of her premises is too high, the Council has no control over this. Ms X may wish to contact the VOA or the Valuation Tribunal to see if she can challenge its decision on this point.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman