Summary: Ms X complained the Council sent council tax bills and correspondence to the wrong address. This meant she was unaware of the amount due and did not pay. The Council took enforcement action to recover the money which caused Ms X financial injustice and anxiety. The Council are at fault for not updating its records and failing to communicate with Ms X.

The complaint

1. Ms X rents a property. She says she asked the Council to send correspondence and council tax bills to her residential address but it did not, instead it sent them to the property she rented. Ms X was unaware of council tax bills she had to pay and did not receive the summons. The Council instructed enforcement agents to recover the debt. This caused Mr X anxiety and distress. Ms X also says the Council failed to communicate with her and the complaints system is flawed.

Back to top

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. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. As part of the investigation I have considered the following:
• The complaint and the documents provided by the complainant.
• Documents provided by the Council and its comments in response to my enquiries.
• Local Government Finance Act 1992 (LGFA) and The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (the Regulations).
4. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant legislation

5. The Council must effectively serve documents on a person. The Council serves summonses under Regulation 35(2). The Council serves all other documents under section 233 LGFA. Both say the document is served by delivering it in person, leaving it at their proper address or sending it by post to their proper address. Proper address is the last known address.
6. Where the Council has been told it has sent correspondence to the wrong address, it should consider, on the balance of probabilities, if it served the document effectively.

The Council’s policies and procedures

Council tax information

7. The Council’s website explains if an individual does not pay their council tax, they could face legal action.
8. The website says if an individual does not pay their council tax instalments in full and on time, the Council will send them a reminder and tell them to pay within seven days. If the person does not pay, their ability to pay in instalments ends and they must pay the whole outstanding amount immediately.
9. If someone is trying to pay their bill or needs financial support, the website says to contact the Council and it will reconsider what action it is taking.
10. If an individual still does not pay, the Council will send a court summons. This means they will have to go to court. Usually the judge will issue a liability order which gives the Council permission to collect the money owed. The Council can add court costs to the individual’s account.
11. The Council can collect money using various methods including enforcement agents, also known as bailiffs. Enforcement agents can take ownership of the persons possessions and sell them at auction for the money owed. They will add their charges to the individual’s account.
12. If the individual still does not pay, the Council can apply to declare the person bankrupt, be sent to prison or have a charging order set against their property.
13. In response to my enquiries, the Council explained its normal procedure for corresponding with owners that do not live at a property is to write to them at a forwarding address. If the owner does not provide a forwarding address, the Council will use the address detailed in the tenancy agreement.
14. The Council’s service level agreement states it will respond to council tax correspondence within ten working days.

The Council’s complaints policy

15. The Council has a two-stage process for complaints.
16. The first stage is a local resolution, investigated by the service complained about. The Council will acknowledge the complaint within two working days and provide a full response within 20 working days. If the Council needs more time, it will contact the complainant, give the reason for the delay and a date when it will provide a full response.
17. If the complainant is not satisfied, they can request a stage two review. This is investigated independently from the service area complained about. An acknowledgement is sent within two working days and a full response within 25 working days. If the Council needs more time, it will contact the complainant, give the reason for the delay and a date when it will provide a full response.

What happened

18. I have summarised below the key events; this is not intended to be a detailed account.
19. Ms X rents a property (the property) to a tenant. Ms X said she contacted the Council in 2006 and asked it to send correspondence for her attention to a forwarding address. Ms X said the Council wrote to her at the forwarding address for several years.
20. The Council confirmed it sent correspondence to her forwarding address as recently as July 2020. The Council’s records show correspondence from October 2020 onwards has been sent to the property address.
21. Ms X’s tenant left the property at the beginning of April. Later in April 2022, Ms X visited the property and saw a council tax bill in her name. The Council sent the bill to the property address and not her forwarding address.
22. Ms X paid the outstanding amount in April 2022.
23. A new tenant moved into the property towards the end of May 2022.
24. In October 2022, Ms X received a demand for money for outstanding council tax due at the property from an enforcement agent. The enforcement agent contacted Ms X at her residential address.
25. Ms X emailed the Council twice in November about the enforcement agents’ demand but did not receive a response.
26. Ms X complained to the Council at the end of November.
27. The Council wrote to Ms X in December and explained the outstanding amount was for council tax for the period August 2020 to October 2020. The Council referred the debt to enforcement agents because Ms X had not paid. This was a different bill to the one Ms X paid in April 2022.
28. Ms X said this was the first time she was aware of the amount due; she had not received a copy of the bill or summons at the time. Ms X emailed the Council querying the bill. The Council did not respond.
29. Ms X asked the Council to review her complaint. She said the Council must amend the contact details on her account and write to her at her forwarding address as she had not received any of the correspondence about council tax.
30. In January 2023, the Council sent its final complaint response to Ms X which set out the council tax history and the amounts payable. It did not address her point about the misdirection of post. Ms X responded and said she had not received correspondence requesting payments.
31. The Council emailed Ms X in late January referencing the outstanding bill. Ms X responded, attached her previous email and said she had not received a council tax bill.
32. In early February, Ms X received a Liability Order from the enforcement agents which said Ms X owed around £600.
33. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman in February 2023. She said the Council did not send bills for her tenanted property to her forwarding address after she repeatedly asked for this. She felt ignored and said the complaint procedure was flawed.

Analysis

34. The council tax department and complaints department failed to respond to correspondence from Ms X within set time frames. In response to my enquiries it admitted there was delay in responding to correspondence and explained this was because of a backlog in dealing with post, staff shortages and officers carrying out work on the Council Tax Energy Rebate fund. This is fault.
35. The Council correctly wrote to Ms X at her forwarding address for many years. In response to my enquiries, the Council explained it sent correspondence from October 2020 onwards to the property address in error. This was due to an officer updating the records by mistake. This is fault which the Council has recognised and apologised for in correspondence with me.
36. The Council failed to update the contact details for Ms X after she asked them to. The council tax department continued to write to her at the property address when she specifically asked it writes to her at her forwarding address. The Council failed to act on Ms X’s repeated request to update its records. This is fault.
37. There were two parts to Ms X complaint to the Council. She asked what the amount due was for and queried what contact details the Council had for her. In the Council’s response it explained how it calculated the payments but did not consider Ms X’s request to clarify and update her contact details. The Council failed to address all the points in Ms X’s complaint which made the issue worse. This is fault. In response to my enquiries, the Council agreed it did not consider the issue about updating Ms X’s contact details in its complaint response and said management had addressed the issue internally.

Injustice

38. The Council’s failure to update its records caused significant injustice to Ms X. The Council continued to write to Ms X at the wrong address which meant she did not receive council tax bills, so she could not pay them on time. This led to the Council seeking and being granted a liability order from the court to take enforcement action to get the money owed, adding extra costs to the amount already outstanding. This caused Ms X financial injustice and significant distress and anxiety.

Action offered by the Council

39. In May 2023, the Council updated its records for Ms X and confirmed it will write to her forwarding address.
40. The Council has withdrawn all recovery action and set Ms X’s council tax account balance at the property to nil.
41. The Council has updated its complaints process so all responses are checked by a team leader before they are sent out.
42. The Council said it will use Ms X’s case as an example in its training to ensure its officers review and update council tax accounts as per legislation, policy and procedure.
43. The Council has offered to pay Ms X £632 for the stress and inconvenience its faults caused.

Back to top

Agreed action

44. In addition to the actions the Council has identified, the Council agreed to:
• Apologise to Ms X in writing for its failure to keep her contact details updated and failing to update the records when asked. It should also apologise for its failure to respond to all sections of her complaint.
45. The Council will complete these actions within four weeks of my final decision.

Back to top

Final decision

46. I have now completed my investigation. The Council are at fault for not updating its records and failing to communicate with Ms X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman