Summary: Miss C complained the Council took nine months after being informed of her housing occupancy to bill her for council tax. The Ombudsman finds the Council was at fault because it delayed sending council tax bills to Miss C. This caused her unnecessary shock and distress. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused to Miss C.

The complaint

1. Miss C complained the Council failed to act promptly on information it received from a neighbouring authority regarding her housing occupancy. She says the Council took nine months after being informed of her housing occupancy to bill her for council tax.
2. Miss C says the Council applied a blanket policy and took recovery action against her in a short time. She says the Council’s failure to exercise discretion has caused her significant distress and anxiety.

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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. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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

6. I considered the information provided by Miss C and the Council. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered the information it provided in response.
7. I shared my draft decision with Miss C and the Council and I invited them to comment on it.

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What I found

8. The council tax bill for the year is due on the 1st April. A council will usually collect payment through monthly instalments. If any instalment is missed the council will send the liable person a reminder. If a payment is still not made or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
9. To use the various powers available to it to recover unpaid council tax, a council must apply to the Magistrates Court for a liability order against those it believes are liable. Once a council has obtained a liability order it can take recovery action.
10. A liability order gives a council legal powers to take enforcement action to collect the money owed. This can include taking deductions from benefits, getting an attachment of earnings (by which deductions are taken directly from earnings by an employer and passed to the Council) or using bailiffs. The Council can decide which recovery method it wishes to use but it can only use one method for one liability order at one time.

What happened

11. In early 2017, Miss C approached a neighbouring authority for housing assistance. The neighbouring authority placed Miss C in temporary accommodation in the Council’s area in February 2017. In a previous Ombudsman investigation, we found the neighbouring authority had provided misleading information to Miss C about her council tax liability. Therefore, Miss C did not expect to pay any council tax for the property she was living in.
12. The Council says at some point the neighbouring authority notified its housing department that Miss C had moved in. The evidence from the previous Ombudsman investigation shows the neighbouring authority informed the Council’s housing department Miss C had moved in on 28 February 2017. The Council’s housing department did not pass this information on to its council tax department.
13. At the beginning of November 2017, the housing provider emailed the Council’s council tax department and said Miss C was liable for council tax from February 2017.
14. The Council says it issued Miss C with council tax bills a few days later for the period from 24 February 2017 to 31 March 2018. Miss C says she did not receive the bills in November 2017.
15. In December 2017, the Council sent Miss C council tax reminders. Miss C says she received the November and December 2017 council tax bills around the same time.
16. At the beginning of January 2018, Miss C phoned the Council and said she had received letters from the neighbouring authority which proved she was not liable for council tax.
17. The Council responded to Miss C and said she was liable for council tax regardless of whether her housing agreement was for temporary accommodation. It told Miss C she could make an application for council tax support, but until it had made a decision, the bills would remain due.
18. Miss C emailed the Council in response and asked for further time because it did not send the bills until November 2017. She asked the Council to set up a payment plan and explained she had applied for council tax support.
19. The Council issued Miss C with a summons for non-payment of council tax at the end of January 2018. The covering letter explained it was not compulsory for Miss C to attend court.
20. When Miss C received the summons, she emailed the Council. She explained she was waiting on a decision on her council tax support application and felt it was unfair the Council had proceeded with a summons to court. She asked the Council to stop the court action until it had considered her council tax support application. The Council responded to Miss C and explained it did not hold council tax accounts while awaiting the decision on whether someone qualifies for council tax support. It explained it had issued a summons so it could consider an arrangement for payment, but the case would proceed through the Magistrates Court so it could request a liability order. It explained a liability order allowed it to look at other methods of recovery.
21. Miss C attended the Magistrates Court and a liability order was issued.
22. Miss C emailed the Council at the beginning of March 2018 and sent an income form. She offered to pay £25 per month for the outstanding council tax. Miss C also received notification she was not entitled to receive council tax support.
23. The Council responded to Miss C’s offer to pay £25 per month. It said it could not accept the offer of £25 per month and it suggested an alternative arrangement. Miss C responded to the Council and said she had paid £600 and she was waiting on a reconsideration of her council tax support application before she entered a repayment plan.
24. In October 2018, the Council emailed Miss C to confirm it had received her final payment and her account was clear. The Council also agreed to withdraw all recovery costs associated with the previous court action.
25. Miss C complained to the Council in September 2019. She said as a result of making a complaint to the Ombudsman about the neighbouring authority, she became aware the Council’s housing department knew in February 2017 that she had moved into the property. She said the Council delayed sending her council tax bills and failed to allow flexibility when it became aware of her circumstances.
26. The Council responded to Miss C’s complaint. It explained it had acted appropriately once its council tax department became aware Miss C was living in the property. It also said it had withdrawn all recovery costs and arranged for Miss C to clear the remaining balance over an agreed period.
27. Miss C referred her complaint to stage two of the Council’s complaint procedure. She explained there was no reason for the Council to wait until November 2017 to bill her for council tax.
28. The Council issued its stage two response to Miss C’s complaint. It accepted the neighbouring authority had notified its housing department that Miss C had moved in but could not confirm when. It said there were no arrangements in place for its housing department to notify the council tax department when it receives a section 208 notification of occupation. This is when a local housing authority receives notification that a homeless household is being placed in accommodation in its area from another local authority. The Council said it would be looking to see if it could put in place such arrangements moving forward.
29. It also accepted it had delayed sending council tax bills to Miss C but said withdrawing the £110 recovery costs for the court action was a suitable remedy.
30. Miss C remain dissatisfied with the Council’s response and referred her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Analysis

31. The Ombudsman cannot investigate late complaints unless there are good reasons to do so. A late complaint is when someone takes 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. Miss C received council tax bills in December 2017 and attended the Magistrates Court in February 2018. She did not refer her complaint to the Ombudsman until October 2019. I have exercised discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because it was only after Miss C received the final decision from the Ombudsman in August 2019 about the neighbouring authority that she became aware of the full facts surrounding her case.
32. The Council accepts its housing department knew Miss C had moved into the property but does not know when. Miss C says the Council’s housing department was informed by the neighbouring authority four days after she had moved in. The evidence from the neighbouring authority shows this was the case.
33. The Council also accepts its housing department did not pass this information on to its council tax department. The Council says there has always been an arrangement where its housing department notifies its council tax department of any occupation of its properties, but Miss C’s case did not relate to a Council owned house.
34. Regardless of whether Miss C’s case related to a Council owned house or not, its housing department was notified that Miss C had been placed in temporary accommodation in its area. Therefore, the housing department should have told the council tax department so it could make its own enquiries. For it not to have done so is fault.
35. The evidence shows the council tax department knew in November 2017 that Miss C had been living in the property since February 2017. At this point, nine months of unpaid council tax bills had accrued. This delay is fault. The Council should have been billing Miss C on time.
36. I am satisfied this fault caused Miss C an injustice. As the previous Ombudsman investigation about the neighbouring authority found, Miss C was not expecting to pay any council tax. So, it would have been a shock for her receive the council tax bills. If the Council had billed Miss C on time, she would not have had the stress of dealing with such a large bill and the threat of court action. As a remedy for the delay, the Council said it had withdrawn the recovery costs associated with the court action. While I welcome this step by the Council, it needs to go further in remedying the distress Miss C has suffered.
37. Miss C has questioned whether the Council sent her initial council tax bills on 6 November 2017 as she did not receive them until the following month. I do not dispute Miss C’s assertion that she did not receive the initial council tax bills until December 2017. In its response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed the council tax bills of 6 November 2017 were printed overnight and posted on 7 November 2017. It has provided a copy of the postal document that Royal Mail signed to confirm the bills had been collected. As I have no other evidence to the contrary, I find it more likely than not that the Council did post the initial council tax bills on 7 November 2017.
38. Miss C also says the Council applied a blanket policy and failed to consider the circumstances of her case. The Council’s recovery policy says on each bill it issues it will give the frequency of instalments to be paid. Once an instalment is missed, a reminder notice will be issued. If payment is not forthcoming, it will issue a summons to the Magistrates Court for unpaid council tax.
39. In Miss C’s case, the Council issued the initial council tax bills on 6 November 2017. It sent a reminder on 14 December 2017 and asked for a response by 21 December 2017. It warned Miss C if she did not pay by 21 December 2017, she would lose the right to pay in instalments and the remaining balance would become due and payable in full. It also warned Miss C it could issue a council tax summons without further notice.
40. Miss C contacted the Council in early January 2018 and explained she had received letters from the neighbouring authority which proved she was not liable for council tax. The Council responded to Miss C and said she was liable for council tax and asked her to contact it urgently to discuss payment. As the Council did not hear from Miss C, it issued summons on 29 January 2018. It was Miss C’s choice to attend the Magistrates Court as the Council told her it was not compulsory. The Council waited a month from 21 December 2017 to 29 January 2018 before deciding to take further action. I therefore do not accept Miss C’s assertion that the Council failed to exercise discretion when dealing with her.

Agreed action

41. To remedy the injustice caused by fault, by 25 November 2020 the Council has agreed to:

• Pay Miss C £200.
• Apologise to Miss C for its delay in sending her council tax bills.

42. By 23 December 2020:

• Revise its policy to ensure its housing department notifies its council tax department when it receives a section 208 notification of occupation.

43. The Council should provide evidence to the Ombudsman the actions set out above have been taken.

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Final decision

44. I have found fault by the Council, causing an injustice to Miss C. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman