Summary: Mr B complains the Council charged him a council tax premium as his property was vacant for more than two years. He says it was only vacant for the full two years because of his ill health and lockdown so it is unfair for the Council to charge this. The Ombudsman does not find fault how the Council considered Mr B’s request to waive the empty home premium.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, complains the Council charged him a council tax premium for an empty property. He says the property was only vacant for more than two years because renovations were delayed by his ill health and the inability to rent it out during lockdown. Mr B says the Council did not invite him to appeal its decision and said it did not have any discretion.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered the information Mr B provided and spoke to him about the complaint, then made enquiries of the Council. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mr B and the Council for their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law, Guidance and Local Policies

8. Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) sets out reductions Councils may make to the amount of council tax individuals pay.
9. S13A (1a) says the amount of council tax which a person is liable to pay, ‘is to be reduced to the extent, if any, required by the authority’s council tax reduction scheme (see subsection (2))’. Every billing authority in England must make a scheme specifying the reductions which are to apply to amounts of council tax payable by:
• ‘Persons whom the authority considers to be in financial need, or
• Persons in classes consisting of persons whom the authority considers to be, in general, in financial need’
10. S13A (2) says every authority must ‘make a scheme specifying the reductions which are to apply to amounts of council tax payable… by:
• persons whom the authority considers to be in financial need, or
• persons in classes consisting of persons whom the authority considers to be, in general, in financial need.’
11. Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 gave a council discretion to reduce the council tax payable on a dwelling to nil if it wished to do so. The Local Government Finance Act 2012 replaced this with a new Section 13A and put the local discretion section in section 13A(1)(c). The effect of this was to make this a discount.
12. S13A (1c) says the amount of council tax a person is liable to pay, in any case, ‘may be reduced to such extent (or if the amount has been reduced under paragraph (a)… such further extent) as the billing authority for the area in which the dwelling is situated thinks fit.’
13. The Ombudsman’s position is that a taxpayer can appeal for a discretionary discount for any reason, for example to cover a shortfall in council tax support, because they think they should not be charged an empty property premium, on hardship grounds or any other reason they can think of. The Council should have some mechanism to consider such requests, with criteria against which they are judged.
14. The Council has produced a Council Tax Discretionary Relief (“CDTR”) policy. It says the scheme helps to support people experiencing financial hardship in line with s13A. It says applicants must:
• Be in receipt of a Council tax reduction and/or,
• be in receipt of Universal Credit (UC); and/or,
• require further financial assistance; and/or,
• suffer hardship through an extreme event or natural disaster where their main or sole residence has structural damage, which could not reasonably have been rectified within the normal period of exemption (see below)

Background

15. Mr B owns a property which he rents to tenants. In May 2018 Mr B had to evict his existing tenant and due to damage needed to complete refurbishments to the property. As the property was vacant Mr B received 100% discount on council tax for a month, after which he was liable for the full rate.
16. There were delays to completion of the refurbishments due to Mr B’s ill health. In September 2019 Mr B informed the Council the property was complete and ready to be let by agents.
17. In March 2020, Mr B informed the Council he would instruct agents to let the property on his behalf. However, Mr B says he was not able to let the property until June 2020 as a result of the pandemic and lockdown. In May 2020 the Council applied an empty homes premium as the property had been vacant for more than two years.
18. Mr B contested the premium. He said the property was available to let within the two-year period and it was only because of the lockdown that it was not possible to let it out in time. He asked the Council to reconsider as it was out of his control.
19. The Council said the premium was correct and payable. It referred him to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau if he was having financial difficulty. Mr B said he did not say he could not pay. He felt the Council should not charge any empty home premium when he could not let the property due to the lockdown.
20. Mr B continued to contest the premium. In March 2021 the Council provided a final response. It said there was no discretion for local authorities to allow different discounts or levels of charges on an individual basis.
21. The Council says it did not refer Mr B to its CDTR policy because Mr B said he was not in financial difficulty and could pay.

Findings

22. I do not find fault in how the Council considered Mr B’s request for a review of its decision to charge an empty home council tax premium.
23. The Council should have some procedure in place to hear discretionary appeals, in line with s13A (1c). However, it can set its own criteria about how it considers those appeals and against what factors it will decide whether to use its discretion to give a council tax discount.
24. The Council’s CDTR policy meets its duty under s13A (2) and (1a) to provide and apply a scheme setting out the reductions to be made for people in financial hardship. It also provides further criteria, that a person may apply for a discretionary discount if they suffer hardship due to an extreme event or natural disaster that has caused structural damage.
25. It is for the Council to decide what criteria it sets and, in this case, its CDTR policy does so. I therefore cannot find fault in the criteria that has set out in its policy. I also do not find fault in the Council not directing Mr B to its appeal procedure for discretionary relief, as it was clear that the circumstances of Mr B’s case did not meet the criteria set out in its policy.

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Final decision

26. The Council is not at fault in how it considered Mr B’s request to waive the empty home premium.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman