Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s management of his council tax account and its refusal to pay his legal costs. This is because we could not add anything to the Council’s investigation and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about errors in the Council’s management of his council tax account for a property he lived in between 2016 and 2018. He says the Council has accepted it made errors, but the remedy offered is insufficient to cover costs he incurred challenging the Council’s decisions. He wants the Council to pay his costs and write off the outstanding council tax bill.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X lived in a property in the Council’s area between 2016 and 2018. He notified the Council when he moved in. The Council opened him a council tax account, told him he was liable for council tax and that it would send him a bill in due course. However, Mr X did not pay any Council tax whilst living in the property as, due to administrative errors, the Council did not send Mr X a bill until after he had moved out. Mr X did not receive this bill as he had not provided the Council with a forwarding address.
6. As it did not receive payment, the Council obtained a liability order through the courts and instructed enforcement agents to locate Mr X and recover the debt.
7. An enforcement agent located Mr X at his current address in January 2023. It said he owed the Council £3453.50. This comprised Mr X’s council tax bill and additional enforcement fees. It asked Mr X to pay the bill or it would start to recover goods.
8. Mr X complained to the Council. In its complaint response, the Council accepted it made errors in how managed Mr X’s account. It acknowledged that delay issuing the initial bill was due to administrative errors. It also accepted it had not followed correct procedures and so should not have instructed enforcement action. It apologised to Mr X for how it had handled the case, applied to the courts to have the liability order quashed and removed the enforcement fees from his account.
9. It told Mr X he still liable for the council tax charges for when he was living in the property and should contact the Council to arrange to pay this. It offered him £250 to acknowledge the errors and the time and trouble taken raising his complaint. It said if he accepted this, it would deduct this amount from the outstanding balance.
10. Despite the Council’s errors, Mr X remains liable for the council tax charges incurred whilst he was living in the property and so we cannot ask the Council to write this off. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
11. Mr X says he has incurred legal costs challenging the Council’s decisions and wants the Council to pay for these. However, it was Mr X’s decision to seek legal advice, and we cannot ask the Council to pay these costs. The Council has remedied the injustice caused by apologising to Mr X, removing the enforcement fees and offering a payment for time and trouble that is in line with our guidance on remedies. We could not add anything further to the Council’s investigation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman