Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to close Mr X’s Council Tax account when he vacated his former home. This because the Council has appropriately addressed the matter and an investigation would not lead to anything worthwhile. In addition, any injustice caused to Mr X by this matter is minimal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council sent him a final notice for Council Tax arrears on a property he left one year previously.
2. Mr X said he had to contact the Council several times to resolve the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X received a Council tax bill for a property he vacated the previous year. Mr X says he had to contact the Council several times and was told the account was settled but he then received several incorrect bills.
7. Mr X complained to the Council about the situation. The Council told Mr X he did not inform it when he moved out of the property and it sent the bills in the absence of this information. The Council confirmed that once Mr X provided evidence of his move out date, the Council settled and closed the account.
8. Mr X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions and wants us to find the Council at fault for failing to close the Council Tax account when he left the property. It is unclear if Mr X provided the Council with the information it needed to correctly close the account. However, the evidence shows once the Council received this information it closed the account. An investigation into this matter would not result in a worthwhile outcome as the Council has already dealt with the account as we would expect it to. Further, Mr X has not suffered financial loss and the Council did not take debt recovery action against him. The injustice caused to Mr X by this matter is therefore minimal.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has appropriately addressed the matter and an investigation would not lead to anything worthwhile. In addition, any injustice caused to Mr X by this matter is minimal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman