Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about information on the Council’s website about council tax on empty homes as there is insufficient evidence of fault or fault causing the complainant an injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he was impacted financially due to what he considers to be misleading information on the Council's website about council tax charges for long term empty properties. Mr X wants the Council to refund the payment he made to it in this regard and to change the wording on its website

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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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he received a council tax bill in December 2023 which explained a 100% council tax premium had been applied to the account of an empty property he owned. Mr X says that when he checked the Council’s website it indicated such charges would only be applicable from April 2024. Mr X says that as he lived out of the area, he relied on information on the Council’s website about his council tax liability at the property.
6. The Council webpage in question indicates it was last updated in February 2024. I checked archived versions of this webpage using an internet search. The results of which indicated that in December 2023, this page advised that as of 1 April 2023, properties empty for two years or more would be charged a 100% premium on council tax. The archive search indicates the same information was supplied on the Council webpage back to March 2023. The Council changed its policy in December 2022 to increase the council tax premium on empty homes from 50% to 100%.
7. This information suggests that Mr X checked the Council’s website after February 2024 (as it has not been amended since then). Had Mr X checked the website earlier, in 2023, he would have seen that a 100% premium applied to empty homes from 1 April 2023. As such, I do not consider there is evidence of Council fault causing Mr X an injustice and we will not therefore investigate.
8. Any dispute about liability for council tax or any decision by the Council not to apply a discretionary council tax reduction are matters for the Valuation Tribunal, the independent body that hears council tax appeals.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council causing Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman