The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
Ms X complains that the Council failed to provide her with an accurate Council tax bill so that arrears were created which have caused financial distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Valuation Office Agency. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says that she bought a property in May 2022 which had mixed planning use. She says that planning permission was granted and she bought the property that month. She says she notified the Council and a Council tax bill was issued which she paid.
She says in May 2024 she received a Council tax bill for the period since she bought the house. She says that this was caused by delays by the Council.
The Valuation Office Agency says that the property was a composite property at the time of purchase (both Council tax and business rates were paid based on it). The Valuation Office Agency says that they were not aware of the change at the time of purchase and say that they should have altered the liability of the building earlier but delays were caused by increased demand on the Ratings List teams.
The delay has been accepted by the Valuation Office Agency in this case rather than the Council. The Valuation Office Agency is out of jurisdiction and so we cannot pursue this complaint. Further, the bill would have been issued earlier in the absence of delay and so the extra costs is not an injustice.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Valuation Office Agency is out of jurisdiction and there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman