London Borough of Waltham Forest (19 007 861)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Ms X complains about the way the Council dealt with her council tax account. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter has been settled to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction.
The complaint
- Ms X complains about the way the Council dealt with her council tax account.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has been given the opportunity to comment before a final decision has been made.
What I found
- Ms X says that the Council obtained a Liability Order against her for non-payment of council tax despite her regular payments. She says that the Council failed to properly communicate with her when she queried the bill.
- The Council has apologised for failing to deal with her attempts to contact the Council. It says that regular payments were not made on her council tax account and, following three reminder letters in the same tax year, the account became due in full. The Council obtained a Liability Order as a result.
- Nevertheless, the Council accepts that communications were poor from its side and it has agreed to waive costs related to the additional enforcement of the debt.
- I am satisfied that the waiving of costs which the Council could have enforced is a reasonable remedy of the complaint to reflect the time and trouble caused to Ms X in dealing with the matter.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter has been remedied.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman