Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (23 005 649)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Aug 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to close Mr X’s council tax account. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Mr X complained that the Council failed to close a council tax account he was no longer responsible for and charged him for this.
- Mr X says this caused him stress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X informed the Council he had sold his property and provided a forwarding address.
- Mr X complained to the Council after he noticed the Council had continued to collect this council tax direct debit.
- The Council advised it could not close Mr X’s previous council tax account because he had not provided information regarding the new property owner. The Council confirmed that when he provided the necessary information the account was closed and the council tax payment refunded to his account.
- Mr X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to find the Council at fault. The evidence shows Mr X did not provide the details of the new property owner when he contacted it to advise he had sold the property. The Council requested this information from Mr X in order to close the council tax account and closed the account when it received this information. The Council also returned the direct debit payment it collected. These were reasonable actions for the Council to take.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman