Summary: There was fault by the Council in how it handled council tax liability for a property owned by Mr B. The Council will write-off the outstanding liability and make a payment to Mr B for the time and trouble he has been put to in pursuing the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains about the Council’s handling of council tax for a property he owns. He says the Council wrongly assessed who was liable for council tax at the property and told him, incorrectly, that he was not liable. He relied on that information and stopped recovering the council tax from his tenants. The Council has now decided he is the liable person and is claiming over £3000 of unpaid council tax from him. Mr B says this has caused him worry and stress.

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. 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. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Mr B and spoke to him. I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. Mr B and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

Summary of events

5. Mr B owns a property which is rented. It is split into flats and is licensed by the Council as a house in multiple occupation. Mr B was liable for council tax at the property.
6. In June 2014 Miss X moved into one of the flats. She made a claim for housing benefit and council tax support. On the claim forms it said she occupied a flat in a house. The Council wrongly interpreted that information as her occupying the whole property. This meant Mr B was not liable for council tax and the Council refunded two payments he had made in June and July 2014.
7. Following a review in July 2017 the Council realised that Miss X did not occupy the whole property. The Council therefore made Mr B liable from when Miss X moved in. This meant there was an outstanding liability of over £3000.
8. Mr B accepts he is liable for council tax but does not consider he should have to pay the outstanding sum. This is because he relied on the information the Council gave to him at the time Miss X moved in that he was not liable. The arrangement Mr B had with his tenants about council tax was that it was not included in the rent but he invoiced them separately for that along with other utility charges. When the Council stopped charging him for the council tax he stopped charging the tenants for the council tax element and just charged them for the other utilities. When the Council said he was liable he was not able to retrospectively charge the tenants for council tax.

Analysis

9. Where there has been a mistake by the Council we expect it to take action to put the person back in the position they would have been in had the mistake not happened. Here, if the Council had acted without fault in in 2014, Mr B would have remained liable for council tax and would have collected that from his tenants in the way he always had. Instead, because the Council told him he was not liable, he stopped recovering the council tax from the tenants.
10. I accept what Mr B says about the arrangement that was in place and I also agree it would not be possible for him to recover the money. For the most part the same tenants are not resident and for those that are I do not consider it would be fair to ask them to pay now. I therefore consider the Council should write-off the sum due. It should also make a payment to Mr B for the time and trouble he has been put to in resolving the matter.

Agreed action

11. The Council will write-off the sum due and pay Mr B £250 for the time and trouble he has been put to in pursuing the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

12. There was fault by the Council in how it handled council tax liability for the property.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman