Summary: We cannot investigate this council tax complaint because the matters have been considered in court and the complainant could have appealed to the High Court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council will not provide an exemption to show it is exempt from the Terrorism Act 2000. Ms X wants the Council to confirm it can collect council tax in breach of the Terrorism Act.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and an email exchange between Ms X and the Council’s legal team. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

6. Councils can serve a summons, and apply to the magistrates for a liability order, if someone has council tax arrears. A liability order is a court order stating the person must pay the council tax and costs. The person can raise a defence in court against the application for a liability order.
7. The Council applied for a liability order. Ms X has not paid her council tax because she thinks council tax is used to fund terrorism which is a breach of the Terrorism Act. Ms X says she will pay if the Council provides evidence it is exempt from the Terrorism Act. Ms X attended the liability order hearing and raised a defence making these points. The court issued a liability order.
8. Ms X continued to raise these points with the Council. The Council said she could appeal to the High Court and suggested she get legal advice. It asked her to pay the council tax arrears.
9. Ms X had a maximum of three months to appeal to the High Court. The Council told me she has not appealed.
10. The law says we cannot investigate any matter that has been considered in court as part of legal proceedings. The matters Ms X has raised with us were presented in court as part of her defence so we have no power to start an investigation.
11. In addition, Ms X could have appealed to the High Court. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have appealed because the High Court is the appropriate body to consider points of law in relation to the granting of a liability order.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate this complaint because the matters have formed part of court proceedings and Ms X could have appealed to the High Court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman