The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council incorrectly deciding Mr X’s landlord was liable for council tax in 2021-2022. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for this. It is not proportionate to investigate the complaints handling issue on its own.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council incorrectly decided his landlord was liable for council tax in 2021-2022. He says the Council caused him to lose his benefits, failed to consider reasonable adjustments and took six months to consider his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council says Mr X left the property in 2021 and it decided his landlord was liable for council tax for the relevant period. It says it sent Mr X a closing bill in October 2021.
Mr X was aware of the Council’s decision, and the impact he says it had on him, more than 12 months before he complained to us. I recognise Mr X says he experienced difficulties in 2022, and I do not doubt this was a challenging time for him. However, he did not complain to us until 2026. I am not satisfied the evidence shows good reasons why he could not have complained sooner. The complaint is therefore late, and we will not investigate it.
While Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint, it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for this.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman