Summary: Mr X complained that the Council failed to communicate with him properly about a council tax bill. He said the confusion and lack of communication caused him distress and financial hardship. We have discontinued the investigation. The Council has admitted that it was at fault. to The Council will make a payment to Mr X and has withdrawn recovery action. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Councils failure to communicate with him about his Council tax bill, and its failure to respond properly to his complaint.
2. He complained about the action taken by the Council to try and retrieve the bill it said he owed.
3. Mr X said the Councils actions caused distress and financial hardship.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, and
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

8. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)
9. Laws and regulations also control how enforcement agents can collect money owed to the council. (The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007)
10. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments. If a person who has to pay council tax misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If they still do not pay, or miss another payment, then they must pay all they owe (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
11. Councils who want to recover unpaid council tax have to ask the magistrate’s court for a liability order against people it thinks owe it the money. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed.
12. Councils should be prepared to work directly with someone who owes money at any point and can stop enforcement action at any time. They should consider doing this whenever appropriate.

What happened

13. The complaint made by Mr X is about council tax for two different properties. I have called them property C and property D.
14. The following information is relevant to the complaint being considered and is not a complete list of everything that happened.
15. Mr X told the Council he was moving out of property C into property D in December 2023. He told the Council he remained the landlord for property C and was intending to live in property D.
16. The Council said Mr X gave the Council an incorrect address for property D. I will call the incorrect address property E. Mr X disputes he gave the Council the wrong information.
17. An account was wrongly set up in Mr X’s name for property E.
18. The Councils automated system made calculations for council tax to be owed by Mr X for property E.
19. Several bills and reminder letters were issued to Mr X, for both property C and property E. Some of those letters were sent to the incorrect address, property E.
20. A liability order was issued by the court in March 2024, for debt the Council said Mr X owed for property C.
21. In April an enforcement notice was issued to Mr X.
22. In May Mr X left property D. He told the Council he had left.
23. Towards the end of May Mr X contacted the Council. He told it his online account was wrong. He could not understand the amount it said he owed. He could not find record of payments he had made. The Council told Mr X it would investigate his complaint.
24. The Council asked Mr X for the tenancy end date for property D. In June further bills were issued to Mr X.
25. Enforcement agents contacted Mr X in July.
26. Mr X disputed the amounts owed and communicated with the enforcement agents and the Council. Mr X made payments to the Council throughout the period complained of.
27. Mr X asked several times for a clear break down of money owed, and payments made for property C and D. The Council did not provide this.
28. In September 2024 Mr X complained to the Ombudsman.
29. The Council told us in September 2024 the complaint was still being considered. However, Mr X’s contact was not registered as a formal complaint, but rather as a service request.

My findings

30. The Council admitted fault in several aspects of the council tax calculation, its communication with Mr X and the missed opportunities to rectify matters throughout 2024 that it did not act upon.
31. The Council admitted a lack of clear case records to explain why certain actions were taken when communicating with Mr X about amounts owed.
32. The Council said the liability order granted, for debt owed for council tax at property C, could have been avoided.
33. The Council was entitled to respond to Mr X’s complaint by deciding it was a service request. Mr X asked for clarity about council tax owed. The Council decided to forward his communication to the relevant team to try to assist him. However, it should have explained this clearly to Mr X so that he knew his communication was not registered as a complaint.
34. The Council did not provide Mr X with a clear response to his queries. The Council did not communicate with Mr X in a helpful, and coherent manner. This understandably exasperated matters for Mr X.
35. The Council made a detailed response to my enquiries about this complaint.
36. It thoroughly reviewed all council tax owed by Mr X, relating to several different properties.
37. In summary, the Council has:
• Confirmed Mr X does not owe any council tax for the properties / period complained about,
• Identified monies owed to the Council from a property linked to Mr X in 2021. It has decided to deduct the amount owed from the significant refund it intends to make,
• Deleted the account connected to the incorrect address (property E) and removed an associated summons charge, increasing what it owes to Mr X,
• Removed two more summons charges, against separate addresses, again increasing the credit owed to Mr X,
• Applied a single person discount to one address for a specific period increasing the credit owed to Mr X,
• Included a credit amount that was sent to the incorrect address in the refund total.
38. The Council has confirmed it will make a refund of over £2000 to Mr X.
39. Mr X disputed he owed anything to the Council for a property dating back to 2021. He was confused about the money the Council said it owed him, and he said he was still outstanding information about his accounts.
40. Despite this, and Mr X’s continued unhappiness with the Council, investigation by the Ombudsman would not achieve anything further for Mr X. We have had assurance from the Council that it intends to communicate with Mr X, and make a significant payment to him, for money it said it owes him.
41. I will make no further analysis of the Councils complaint handling. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Decision

42. I have discontinued this investigation. The Council has explained the actions it will take to remedy the injustice caused to Mr X. An investigation would not achieve anything further.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman