Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of Ms X’s council tax account. This is because an investigation would not lead to a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council returned a refund of a council tax payment to her former tenants without notifying her first. She also complains the Council significantly delayed responding to the complaint she raised about this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X owns a property which she rented out to tenants between 2019 and 2021. She did not notify the Council of this until 2021 and said that she had a private agreement with her tenants that they would pay the council tax on her behalf in return for subsidised rent.
6. The Council closed Ms X’s account and this left a refund on the account. The Council credited the refund back to the tenants. Ms X raised a complaint about this in December 2022 but did not receive a complete response from the Council until March 2023.
7. The Council explained the tenancy agreement provided when the council tax account was opened showed that the previous tenants were liable for the council tax. Once the Council was made aware of the change in occupancy the Council closed the account and returned the credit created by the closure to the tenants. The Council explained that it did this after receiving evidence showing the payments were made by the previous tenants. The Council acknowledged the significant delay in responding to Mrs X’s complaint and offered a £100 financial award.
8. Mrs X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to find the Council at fault. The evidence shows the Council has acted in line with what we would expect and based on the information it had available to it at the time. The Council was not made aware of Mrs X’s private arrangement and therefore could not be expected to return the money to an account that did not make the payments. There was fault by the Council when it neglected to respond to Mrs X’s complaint within a reasonable timescale however, the Council has put forward a proportionate financial remedy in recognition of the time and trouble Mrs X was put to by this. An investigation into this matter would not lead to a worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation would not lead to a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman