The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed in contacting the Valuation Office Agency to bring his business premises into the rating list. This is because the Council’s delay did not cause Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council delayed in reporting his occupation of business premises to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). As a result he says he was unable to claim COVID-19 business rates relief and has been charged approximately £32,000 which he should not have to pay.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Background
Business rates are a tax on the occupation of non-domestic property. The amount of any rates payable for each property is determined by the property’s rateable value, which is set by the VOA.
Local authorities cannot be expected to monitor occupation of all business premises in their areas. They rely on businesses reporting any changes to property and/or to their occupation. Where there are changes to the property the local authority will report to the VOA to determine whether to update the rating list. Where there are changes to the business occupying the property the Council will decide who should be liable for business rates and for what period they are liable. They will then issue bills to the relevant parties, for the relevant period(s).
Mr X says he started up a business and moved into premises in 2019. The property was not on the rating list and Mr X did not contact the Council to inform it about his occupation at the time. The Council first became aware of Mr X’s occupation around September 2021 when Mr X returned a questionnaire sent to the property.
The Council prepared a report for the VOA to bring the property into the rating list but delayed for four months in sending it. The VOA then took four further months to add the property to the list. Once it had done this, the Council issued Mr X a bill.
Between 2020 and 2022 the government introduced several grant schemes for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr X applied for grants from the Council, which administered the schemes on the government’s behalf, and the Council awarded Mr X business rates relief under the relevant schemes for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. But the Council could not award Mr X relief for the 2020/21 financial year because Mr X missed the deadline. Mr X believes this is the Council’s fault as it did not contact him sooner and delayed in referring the matter to the VOA.
My assessment
Even if the Council had submitted its report to the VOA immediately following receipt of Mr X’s completed questionnaire it would not have been possible, in the circumstances, to resolve the matter in time for Mr X to apply for business rates relief for the 2020/21 financial year. So while it is clear there was fault in the Council’s delay we could not say this caused the injustice Mr X claims.
I appreciate Mr X believes the Council should have contacted him sooner but it was his responsibility to report his occupation to the Council and he did not do so for some two years after taking over the lease. This simply did not leave enough time for the rating process to conclude prior to the deadline.
It is of course frustrating that Mr X’s business has lost its eligibility for the relief and that it must pay the outstanding business rates owed for the period but we cannot say this was the result of fault by the Council and we cannot therefore say it should not take action to recover them.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Mr X claims is not the result of any fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman