Summary: Mr D complains about the Council’s enforcement action for unpaid council tax. The Ombudsman finds no evidence of fault. And, in any case, there is no injustice, as the Council has decided not to collect unpaid enforcement fees.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr D, complains about the Council’s collection of a council tax bill. He complains that:
• He complained in January 2019, shortly after the Council sent him a council tax bill. But he did not receive a reply.
• He did not get the reminder letter or summons.
• The Council did not tell him it had obtained a liability order. Or that it had passed the debt to enforcement agents.
• He paid the bill, by working out how much he owed. But then enforcement agents contacted him advising he still owed them their fees. That was unfair, as he had already paid the debt.
• The enforcement agents did not write to him. The first he heard was a text message.

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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. 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)
3. 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) The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
4. If we are 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr D;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered its response;
• spoken to Mr D;
• sent my draft decision to Mr D and the Council and invited their comments.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

6. Council tax is a tax made on domestic properties. Councils issue one bill to each household. Residents of dwellings, including tenants, are usually liable for council tax from the date they moved into the property. If a property is unoccupied, the liability passes to the owner.
7. The law says that council tax services can serve a document about billing or enforcement on a person by delivering it to them, leaving it at their proper address, or sending it by post to their proper address. Proper address is taken to be the last known address. There is no need to use registered or recorded post. Unless the contrary is proved, a document is deemed to have been served by post when it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. (Local Government Act 1972 (Section 233); Regulation 35(2) of The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992; The Interpretation Act 1978 (Section 7))
8. Where a sum of council tax is unpaid a council may seek an order from the magistrates’ court known as a liability order. This confirms the amount owed and who is liable to pay it. When a liability order has been made, the council has several options available to pursue the debt. One option is to instruct enforcement agents. Agents can charge fees and costs for council tax debt recovery. The fees are set at £75 for the “compliance stage” and £235 for the “enforcement stage”. (Regulation 45 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992

What happened

9. At the end of December 2018 a tenant advised the Council they had moved into a property on 1 October. The Council checked with the Land Registry, which advised that Mr D had owned the property since 5 September.
10. On 20 December 2018, the Council issued Mr D a council tax bill for 5 to 30 September 2018 – the dates the property was unoccupied.
11. The Council sent Mr D a reminder in February 2019. It has sent me a copy of this document. It has also sent me a recording of a telephone call from Mr D, after he received this document, questioning the dates.
12. The Council issued Mr D a summons in March for a liability order hearing. The magistrate court granted a liability order on 10 April for £152.25.
13. On 12 April the Council wrote to Mr D asking him to pay. It has sent me a copy of this letter.
14. On 8 May the Council passed the debt to its enforcement agents. The Council has sent me a letter the enforcement agents sent Mr D. The agents added a “compliance stage” fee.
15. On 13 May Mr D paid the Council £152.25. This cleared the debt, apart from the compliance stage fee.
16. Mr C complained to the Council about its continuing enforcement action for the £75 outstanding fee. Mr D did not agree with the Council’s responses, so he complained to the Ombudsman.
17. In response to my enquiries the Council advised that, in October 2019, it had decided that, to resolve the issue, its enforcement agents would take no further action about the outstanding fee.

Analysis

18. The documents the Council has sent me show it billed Mr D for a period when its view was he was liable for the council tax on his property. I have not investigated whether it was correct in that view, as Mr D had an alternative means to challenge that decision, had he wished to do so (see paragraph 3).
19. I can see the Council followed the correct enforcement process. Mr D says he did not receive correspondence. But the Council’s records show he contacted it after he had received the reminder letter. I see no reason to believe it did not also send the other letters to the same address.
20. In any case, Mr D has now paid what, in his view, he owed. And the Council and its agents have agreed to not enforce the outstanding costs. So my view is there is, in any case, no significant remaining injustice.

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Final decision

21. I do not uphold this complaint and have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman