Householders who think their council tax bill is wrong may be entitled to challenge it through a free tribunal, but new guidance suggests many are never told this option exists, and can lose the right to use it by the time they find out.
Last year the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman received more than 1,600 complaints about council tax. Many, it says, should never have needed to reach it at all, because the person involved had a straightforward right to take their case to the Valuation Tribunal, a free and independent service, rather than going through a council’s own complaints process.
The problem is not being told by the council of the cost free right of appeal to the tribunal and timing. Appeals to the tribunal come with strict deadlines, typically one to two months, and anyone who spends that time going through a council complaints process instead can lose their right to appeal altogether, even with a strong case.
Real cases highlighted by the Ombudsman show the consequences: one man’s appeal window closed after his dispute was wrongly treated as a customer service complaint; another was pursued through the courts, with bailiffs and threats of bankruptcy, without ever being told he could challenge the decision itself for free; a tenant who queried her bill found a bailiff at her door months later, still unaware she had a right to appeal.
What you can challenge, and how long you have:
- Liability (who has to pay): 2 months.
- Reduction decisions: 2 months.
- Penalty notices: 2 months.
- Completion notices: 1 month.
If your council hasn’t decided within two months of you first contacting it, you can still appeal, but you then have four months from your original contact to do so.
The tribunal is free and doesn’t require legal representation. The Ombudsman is urging councils to signpost this right clearly, at the point a decision is made, rather than leaving people to find out too late.
Amerdeep Clarke, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:
“If you think your council tax bill is wrong, you may have a free and independent way to challenge it, and you shouldn’t have to find that out by accident, or too late to use it. Too many people come to us having lost that right simply because no one told them it existed. Councils should be telling people about their right to appeal at the point a decision is made, clearly and in writing, not leaving them to stumble across it on a website, or not find out at all. A single line in a letter can make all the difference.”
What to do if you think your council tax bill is wrong:
- Check whether your issue is one that carries a right of appeal (see above).
- Ask your council directly whether you have a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal, and what the deadline is.
- Don’t assume going through a council’s complaints process protects your right to appeal, the clock may still be running.
- Find out more and start an appeal at the Valuation Tribunal Service.
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