Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a business rate account. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of a company. He says following the recalculation of the rateable value of the business premises, the Council retrospectively recalculated the retail relief rate and issued an additional bill.

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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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We normally expect people to complain to us within 12 months of them becoming aware of a problem. Mr X was aware of the charges for over 12 months before complaining to the Ombudsman. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I have considered whether to exercise our discretion to investigate the complaint, but I have seen no good reasons to do so.
9. Even if we were to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint, we would not investigate. The Council has obtained a liability order, which determined the company’s liability for the business rates debt. We cannot consider a matter that has been decided by the courts. If Mr X wishes to challenge the company’s liability or the Council’s decision about retail relief, he would need to pursue this through the courts. Given the nature of the issues raised and the sums involved, it would be reasonable to expect Mr X to use that remedy.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it has been made late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman