Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing non-domestic rates demands to a business address. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council sending non-domestic rates bills to business premises which are not the registered address of his business. He says the bills were delayed in payment because staff at the premises were not trained to process them. As a result, he says he received a summons and court costs due to the payment delay.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained about the Council issuing non-domestic rates demands to a business premises which he owns but which is not the registered address for his company. He says the staff at the premises were not trained to address rate demands and that as a result the bill was unpaid and resulted in a court summons. He says the Council should have sent the demands to the registered address of his company which central government requires him to provide.
6. The Council says that the rates demand was issued to the premises which are the billing location. It was not provided with any alternative address by Mr X until he made contact after the court proceedings. It also says that similar demands issued to the same address had been responded to by Mr X’s company in the past and payments had been made on these.
7. The council is a billing authority and the rates for the premises are set by the Valuation Office Agency. The provisions of the Non-Domestic Rates (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989 SI 1058 require the billing authority to notify the owner of the premises about due payments. If there is no other address the premises for which the rates are due is the billing address.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made. In this case there is no evidence that the Council failed to apply the legislation correctly.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing non-domestic rates demands to a business address. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman