Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council seeking to recover old council tax arrears as the complaint is made late to us and there are not good reasons for us to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council only contacted him in 2021 about a council tax debt from 2007. Mr X considers the Council should have contacted him earlier and is making unreasonable demands for documentation relating to that time period.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide investigation would not lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council contacted Mr X about council tax arrears in December 2021. Mr X did not complain to us until April 2023 and so his complaint is made late. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us within a year of him knowing about the problem and as such I do not consider there are good reasons for us to investigate now.
8. In addition, councils have a legal duty to collect council tax and we cannot ask the Council to waive any arrears, nor can we determine Mr X’s liability. If Mr X disputes the liability, then he can appeal against it to the Valuation Tribunal, the body which specifically deals with such matters.
9. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late to us and there are not good reasons for us to investigate now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman