The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council charging a council tax premium for second homes. This is because the law says such decisions can only be challenged by judicial review.
The complaint
Mrs B complains the Council has wrongly decided to charge a 100% council tax premium on properties which are second homes. Mrs B says the Council did not follow government guidance before introducing this policy. Mrs B says the Council should not apply this premium to her property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council’s decision to introduce this council tax premium is part of the council tax setting process undertaken by the Council. The law says such decisions can only be challenged by judicial review in the High Court (Paragraph 49, Schedule 7 Local Government Act 2003).
So, we will not investigate a matter which the law does not allow us to investigate.
If Mrs B considers her property meets one of the exemptions from this council tax premium, she may challenge the Council’s decision by putting in an appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman