Summary: The complainant says the Council failed to properly manage his council tax account and ensure he knew about arrears owed on the account. The complaint says the Council wrongly added enforcement costs to his council tax bill. The Council says it followed the correct procedures and issued bills, reminders and notices and sent them to the property and after tracing the complainant to his current address. The Council says it incurred enforcement costs because the complainant did not leave a forwarding address and so it had to trace him. It recognises it did not respond to an email for a year. The Ombudsman finds the Council acted without fault or caused a significant injustice in following up the council tax owed on the property.

The complaint

1. The complainant whom I shall refer to as Mr X, says that when he left his former home which he shared with other people he checked his council tax account on- line. The online account showed him in credit which resulted in a refund. Then Mr X says the Council pursued him for a debt on the council tax account having created a new council tax account he knew nothing about. Mr X complains the Council treated him unfairly and its actions added costs to the debt which he has had to pay.
2. Mr X wants the Council to remove the added costs from the council tax account and refund the £100 paid to the enforcement agents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If satisfied with a council’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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.

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How I considered this complaint

7. In considering this complaint I have;
• Contacted Mr X and read the information presented in his complaint;
• Put enquiries to the Council and reviewed its response;
• Researched the relevant law, guidance and policy;
• Shared with Mr X and the Council my draft decision and reflected on any comments received.

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What I found

8. Mr X moved into a rented property in November 2013 with two other occupants I shall refer to as Mr Y and Mr Z. Their landlord told the Council of their occupation and start of the tenancy and the Council issued a Council Tax bill.
9. In April 2014 the Council sought and gained a liability order for Council Tax and passed it to an Enforcement Agent for collection in May 2014. Messrs X, Y and Z settled the debt in August 2014. The Council sought and gained a further liability order in September 2014, issued a letter before action in October 2014 and passed the order to an Enforcement Agent. Messrs X,Y and Z settled the debt with the Enforcement Agent in June 2015.
10. In February 2016 the Council closed the account saying that Mr X left the property on 4 February 2016. It issued a bill on 11 April 2016, and a reminder on 3 August 2016, issuing a closing bill for £149.95 on 12 August 2016. This remained unpaid so the Council issued a reminder in October 2016 and a summons in November 2016 both of which the Council withdrew. The Council then issued a new closing bill for the same amount on 5 April 2017, sent a reminder on 5 June 2017 and issued a summons on 28 June 2017. The courts granted the Council a liability order in July 2017 and the Council passed this to its Enforcement Agents.
11. The issue of the liability order and passing the matter to the Enforcement Agents added costs to the original sum and the debt now stood at £252.95.
12. The Council says benefits information it received show Mr X as living at a different address between February and April 2016. The records show Mr X as back at the address shared with Mr Y and Mr Z in April 2016. Mr X says he moved out In June 2016.
13. Mr X and Mr Y presented a refund form to the Council on 1 March 2016 showing that Mr Z left the property in November 2015. However, the Council’s records show Mr Z told the Council had had moved out in October 2015.
14. On 21 March 2016 the Council wrote to Mr X saying it had information suggesting Mr X had also moved out of the property. The letter said the Council needed to know who continued to occupy the property so it could calculate the correct refund. The Council also explained it may only refund two thirds of any credit until Mr Z signed to say he agreed to his part of the refund being paid to Mr X.
15. The Council then wrote to Mr X on 31 March 2016 explaining the credit previously showing on the account was wrong because there were still arrears due to costs owed to the Enforcement Agent. The Council said it had used part of the credit to clear the account with the Enforcement Agent and therefore Mr X and Mr Y would receive a lower refund of £102.78 for this account. The Council paid the refund on 7 April 2016.
16. On 11 April 2016 the Council issued a new bill for the council tax year. The Council says as it had paid a refund on the account held in the three names Mr X should have expected to receive this bill for the period after Mr Z left until the remaining council taxpayers including Mr X left the property. Mr X says he did not receive the bill.
17. Mr X said he then left the property in June 2016. Before doing so he checked the council tax account online and it continued to show a credit on it therefore he believed he owed nothing. He did not contact the Council to say he had left the property or leave a forwarding address because he believed the council tax account had no arrears on it.
18. The Council says the account opened in April 2016 had arrears arising from the unpaid bill issued on 11 April 2016. Mr X says he did not know of this new bill and so had checked online using the original account details. On discovering Mr X had left the property the Council decided to engage its Enforcement Agents in an ‘abscond’ search to find his new address so it could follow up with service of notices.
19. In February 2017 the search identified Mr X’s parent’s former home as a possible address for Mr X and the Council contacted him at that address. The letter reached Mr X’s parents at their new address and they contacted the Council explaining Mr X did not live with them.
20. In March 2017 the Council identified a new address for Mr X and amended the billing address and withdrew the previous recovery action. It sent a new closing bill to the new address.
21. Mr X contacted the Council in October 2017 to say the Enforcement Agent had contacted him. Mr X told the Council he had not received any of the bills, reminders or summons sent to him. Mr X confirmed he would pay the outstanding council tax but having checked whether he had anything to pay before leaving he felt paying the costs was unfair.
22. Following the demand for the council tax plus costs Mr X complained to the Council and it put any further action on hold while it dealt with the complaint. Mr X says the Council did not tell him and Mr Y about the newly created account solely in their names and he continued to pay using the original account details. Mr X says had the Council made it clear there was a new account he would have known about the debt and could have settled this earlier.
23. In response the Council says it sent notices to the property in April 2016 when both Mr X and Mr Y say they still occupied the property. Therefore, the Council believed they would know about the tax bill and should have arranged to pay it. The Council also says Mr X and Mr Y did not tell the Council when they left the property or give a forwarding address. Without a forwarding address the Council could not let them know if there were any final adjustments to the bill once they left. Therefore, the Council believes it followed usual procedures and that it properly incurred Enforcement Agent costs which Mr X should now pay. In commenting on my draft decision Mr X says he did not receive any letters or bills in April 2016. Mr X says he did not receive any letter saying the Council had opened a new account and that it would transfer any money paid into the old account into the new. The Council believes it acted properly in closing the original account, refunding the money and opening a new account for the new council tax year in the names of Mr X and Mr Y. It says it believed it reasonable to assume in the absence of any contact following its bill for the new account that Mr X paid into the original account by mistake and therefore it rightly transferred the payments to the new account.
24. In responding to Mr X’s complaint in November 2017 the Council did not answer his follow up email. Mr X complained again in October 2018. In the Council’s response at stage 2 of its complaints procedure the Council recognised it should have acknowledged Mr X’s further contact in November 2017. However, the Council says the lack of an acknowledgement did not add to the costs added to the debt by the Enforcement Agents’ fees. The Council did not uphold the complaint.
25. Mr X believes the Council wrong to claim the costs of the Enforcement Agent, the Council says it incurred the costs having followed the correct procedure and can see no reason to remove them.

Analysis – was there fault leading to an injustice?

26. My role is to consider if the Council acted without fault in its management of the council tax account and its pursuit of the council tax owed by Mr X, Y and Z. It is not to decide whether they owe that council tax.
27. Mr X acted in good faith when checking the online account before he left the property which he says showed the account to be in credit. However, on leaving the property Mr X did not advise the Council he had left. Council tax is charged daily and therefore the Council needs to know the date someone leaves a property so it can properly assign their liability for the council tax. Mr X did not tell the Council he had left and so those final adjustments could not be made. If he had told the Council and given a forwarding address the Council could have told him much earlier if he had anything to pay.
28. The Council followed the correct procedure and on finding new addresses sent out new bills to Mr X. Given Mr X is jointly and severally liable, he is liable for any council tax owing and any costs incurred in following up that council tax. While I understand he acted in good faith and believed he had done all he needed to do, unfortunately he did not.
29. I find the Council acted without fault when passing the debt to the Enforcement Agent and thus incurring their costs.

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Final decision

30. In completing my investigation, I find the Council acted without fault and therefore did not cause any significant injustice in following up the council tax debt owed by Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman