London Borough of Croydon (22 016 254)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax because the matter has been remedied.
The complaint
- Mr X, a landlord, complains about the way the Council dealt with his tenant’s claim for Council tax and his own liability.
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 an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that he had to support his tenant in their dispute with the Council about liability. The Council eventually apologised and paid the tenant £150 compensation.
- The Ombudsman would not accept a complaint on behalf of another person without their consent which we do not have.
- Mr X was told that he had to repay Council tax of £922 but the Council decided to write this sum off due to errors in the way Mr X’s claim for Council tax support was considered.
- The Council has apologised for any errors in the way Mr X’s Council tax was dealt with but say that compensation is not appropriate in this case.
- The Ombudsman takes into account any payment made by a Council which was wrongly made, but not recovered, as a benefit to the complainant. In this case, whilst mistakes were made by the Council, I do not consider that any payment of compensation is appropriate as he has benefitted by the write off of Council tax.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman