Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about council tax matters. Further consideration of the complaint would not achieve any more for Mr B.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complains the Council obtained liability orders for unpaid council tax, after sending all previous correspondence to an incorrect address. Mr B says this caused him and his wife upset as well as time trying to resolve the matter. Mr B wants the Council to provide a full apology, confirm it has withdrawn the liability orders and make a financial payment for his time.

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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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr B provided and the complaint correspondence between Mr B and the Council. I sent a draft decision to Mr B and considered the comments he made in reply before I made my final decision.

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What I found

4. In September 2018, Mr B’s company (‘Company A’) notified the Council that a tenant at a property managed by the company had moved out and Company A would be the liable party for council tax.
5. The Council issued a demand, reminder, final notice and summonses for unpaid council tax to Mr B, rather than Company A, and sent all the correspondence to an incorrectly noted version of Mr B’s home address.
6. Mr B says Company A received no correspondence from the Council regarding the council tax for this property. In July 2019, Mr B received a liability order from the magistrate’s court for the balance of the outstanding council tax, plus costs. This was addressed to Mr B personally, at his home address, rather than to Company A.
7. Mr B contacted the Council as this was the first correspondence he had received. Mr B was concerned about potential enforcement action for the unpaid council tax.
8. The Council reviewed its records and confirmed it should have sent correspondence to Company A at the business address. The Council apologised to Mr B and his wife, withdrew the two liability orders it had obtained and costs and issued a correctly addressed demand for the outstanding council tax to Company A, with revised dates for making payment.
9. In response to Mr B’s further complaint, the Council confirmed it had sent correspondence to Mr B's home address, but this had not been properly recorded and Mr B therefore did not receive the letters.
10. While Mr B remains dissatisfied, the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. While it was fault for the Council to send information to the incorrect address, Mr B only became aware of the matter in July 2019. Any uncertainty was short-lived because the Council withdrew the liability orders and costs from Mr B’s account within 48 hours of Mr B making contact. The Council has also already provided an apology. While Mr B has been put to some time and trouble in contacting the Council to resolve the matter, this does not warrant any further investigation of the complaint.
11. Mr B has explained that in the time it took the Council to correctly issue the council tax demand to Company A, the property in question had been sold and all costs and charges deducted from the sale price before the balance was paid to the client. Mr B says Company A can no longer recover the payment from the client and has been financially disadvantaged by the Council’s actions.
12. I do not consider any financial loss is due to fault by the Council. As Mr B has explained, he notified the Council that Company A was the liable party for council tax in September 2018. The payment Company A has now been asked to pay was therefore always due. It is reasonable to expect a property management company to have checked to ensure it had paid the council tax for which it knew it was liable.
13. If Company A had an agreement the client would reimburse council tax costs when Company A was the liable party, that is a private civil matter between the two parties and not a matter for the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

14. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint would not achieve any more for Mr B.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman