Summary: Ms Z complains about alleged failings by the Council in relation to the billing of her council tax, as well as taking unjustified enforcement action against her. We cannot investigate this complaint because it relates to matters which have been subject to the commencement or conduct of proceedings before a court of law.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms Z, is making a complaint about her council tax and the amount she has been billed by the Council since 2006 to present. In particular, she alleges:
1. Her council tax account should be credit due to overpayments by her over the years. Yet the Council has issued demands for non-payment.
2. There has been delays by the Council logging her complaint about this.
3. Unjustified demands for payment from bailiffs, including the issue a notice for the removal of goods notice.
2. In summary, Ms Z says her council tax account should be hundreds of pounds in credit given her payments since 2006. The alleged injustice is therefore financial loss, as well as aggravation of dealing with the failings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended).
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My findings

Background and legislative framework

7. The primary legislation for council tax is the Local Government Finance Act 1992. The main secondary legislation concerned with collection and recovery is The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 SI 613. To use the various powers available to it to recover unpaid council tax, a council must apply to a magistrate’s court for a liability order against those it believes are liable. This will result in a council issuing a legal summons to appear in court. Once a council has a liability order it can take recovery action.
8. A liability order gives a council the legal power to take enforcement action to collect the council tax and court costs owed. The most commonly used powers are asking for deductions from benefits, getting an attachment of earnings (this means deductions are taken directly from earnings by an employer and passed to the council) or using enforcement agents.

Chronology of key events

9. Between 2006 and 2023, Ms Z says she has received a number of legal summons in respect of non-payment of her council tax. She says her total council tax bills for this period are less than the amount she had paid. Ms Z explains her account should be in credit and the all billing and recovery action is unjustified.
10. Between August 2011 and June 2022, the Council has issued four legal summons to Ms Z and has obtained four liability orders from the magistrates’ court for non-payment of council tax. The most recent liability order is in respect of a live debt which the Council in taking enforcement action to recover.
11. Since October 2022, Ms Z says she has received six letters from a bailiff company to recover the amounts owed She later made a formal complaint to the Council but is still receiving bailiff letters. Dissatisfied with the responses from the Council, Ms Z has made a complaint to the Ombudsman.

My assessment

12. The matter of whether Ms Z has overpaid or unpaid her council tax has been subject to legal proceedings in court. Liability order proceedings in the magistrates’ court start from the issue of a summons to the making of a liability order. We cannot look at whether Ms Z has overpaid or underpaid council tax as we have no jurisdiction to investigate a complaint subject to the commencement or conduct of proceedings before a court of law. The Council’s enforcement action using bailiffs is a result of the legal proceedings and most recent liability order. We have absolutely no discretion to investigate in these circumstances.
13. I recognise Ms Z complains about poor complaint handling by the Council. However, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling where the substantive issue is outside of our legal jurisdiction.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate this complaint because it relates to matters subject to the commencement or conduct of proceedings before a court of law. The complaint does not meet the conditions outlined in the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and we have therefore closed the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman