The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to award him a six-month empty property discount. This is because the matter concerns a decision about occupation by a third party more than five years ago. The complaint is therefore late and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in any event.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to apply a new six-month empty property business rates discount following occupation of his business premises by a third party for more than six weeks in 2017.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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 Mr X’s representative, Mr Y, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council confirms it visited the property three times between August 2016 and April 2017 but found no evidence of occupation and no one in or around the property; it was therefore unable to gain access.
Any complaint about the Council’s decision is late. It is also unlikely we would find fault in the decision. This is because Mr X’s tenant did not claim occupation at the time and Mr X did not dispute liability to pay business rates on the grounds the Council should apply a new six-month empty property discount until some five years later.
The Council has considered the new information and arguments made by Mr Y but has decided not to change its decision. I have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the matter to warrant further investigation and it is unlikely we could carry out a proper investigation into this matter so long after the event in any case. Had Mr X felt he qualified for a new empty property discount it would have been for him to make this argument and raise a formal complaint at the time.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman