Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s charging an empty rate premium for council tax or for it advising the valuation Office Agency about liability for occupying temporary accommodation.

The complaint

1. Mr X says he was not made aware of an empty rate premium due on a property which he purchased until the Council billed him for it. He says he should have been notified. He also complains that he was forced to sell a caravan which he bought to live in on the property site because the Council said he would have to pay council tax on it.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mr X bought a house in 2023 which had been vacant and incurred the Council’s empty property rate premium for council tax. He says he was unaware of the additional charge until the Council billed him for the additional amount. The charge was introduced following the government’s amendments to Section 11A of the Local Government Act 1992 (as amended) in April 2013. Since that time councils have been able to charge a 100% premium for empty properties after 2 years and this information has been widely available on their websites. It can also be found on the government’s own website.
6. Mr X applied for the property to be removed from the council tax list because it was uninhabitable and under repair, and the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) did this from August. The Council contacted Mr X and asked him where he had been living since June when he originally contacted it. He responded by email saying he had been living in a small caravan on site since June. The Council told him it would inform the VOA about this because it was required to pursue liability for temporary accommodation, regardless of the nature of it.
7. Mr X told the Council he would consider driving daily to his old address if he was billed for the caravan as well. He submitted a formal complaint because he believed he was being harassed. When the VOA contacted him about charging for the caravan he says he was forced to sell it at a loss.
8. The Council subsequently used its discretion to remove the additional charges. Mr X made a claim for the loss he incurred on selling the caravan. The Council says it will not re-imburse him for this from public funds because the choice of buying and selling the caravan was his own.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
10. In this case we cannot consider the Council’s empty rate premium policy because this can only be challenged by way of judicial review. The Council was required to bill Mr X for council tax according to the regulations and it issued bills according to the information which he provided. He bought the caravan months before he informed the Council he was living in it and selling it was his own choice so he could not expect to be compensated for this.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s charging an empty rate premium for council tax or for it advising the valuation Office Agency about liability for occupying temporary accommodation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman