Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council refusing to refund her selective licence fee. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains the Council has refused to refund part of the fee she paid for a five year selective licence for her privately rented property. Mrs B says she paid almost £1,000 for this licence but her tenants recently left and she is no longer a landlord.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs B and information on the Council’s website.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council’s policy is that selective licence fees are non-refundable. The Council’s decision not to issue a refund to Mrs B was in line with this policy.
6. It is for local authorities to decide their approach to refunds for selective licensing schemes. It is not our role to tell the Council it should operate this policy differently.
7. So, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation into Mrs B’s complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman