Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to pass a council tax debt to enforcement agents. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant the Ombudsman’s involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to pass a council tax debt to enforcement agents. This meant Mr X incurred extra charges.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also considered information from the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

What happened

4. I have summarised below some of the key events – but the below is not meant to show everything that happened.
5. In November 2018, the Council sent Mr X a council tax bill for the periods January 2018 to March 2018, and April 2018 to March 2019. Mr X says the bill was wrong because he rented the property to a tenant who was paying council tax. Mr X sold the property shortly afterwards.
6. In January 2019, the Council sent Mr X a council tax reminder. Mr X says he told his former tenant to contact the Council. Mr X then received a court summons for unpaid council tax.
7. Mr X contacted the Council in February 2019, and it asked him for proof the property had been rented and sold. The magistrates’ court then granted a liability order against Mr X because of the outstanding council tax debt.
8. On 23 March 2019, the Council passed the council tax debt on to its enforcement agents. The agents added a £75 fee.
9. At the beginning of April 2019, the Council had enough information from Mr X to recalculate his council tax bill. There was a period before Mr X sold the property when he did not have a tenant - so Mr X was liable for council tax. The new council tax bill was £165.06. Mr X paid this amount, but the £75 enforcement agent fee remained.
10. Mr X complained to the Council and it responded on 10 July 2019. In its response it set out what had happened. It explained the debt of £75 had been passed back to the Council so it could set up a ‘Special Payment Arrangement’. The Council had sent details of this to Mr X, but because he did not pay, the £75 debt had been passed to its enforcement agents. The Council said that council tax needed to be paid – even if someone disputed the amount charged. Because the debt had been correctly passed to its enforcement agents, the £75 remained payable. The Council had arranged for recovery of the £75 to be placed on hold until 07 August 2019. This would allow Mr X time to contact the enforcement agents.

Analysis

11. I understand Mr X is unhappy his council tax debt was passed to enforcement agents. But the Council did this because it did not have the required information to correctly calculate Mr X’s council tax bill. It wrote to Mr X in November 2018 and January 2019 about this. Mr X only contacted the Council in February 2019, when he received a summons.
12. It was not fault for the Council to bill Mr X based on the information it had. Councils have a duty to collect council tax. The Council has correctly explained to Mr X that council tax needs to be paid – even if someone disputes the amount charged. There was also no fault in the Council’s decision to pass the debt on to its enforcement agents. While Mr X clearly disagrees with the Council’s actions, there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman