Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council charged her council tax for a property she did not live in. The complaint is late. Furthermore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation and the Council has now decided to write off the debt so there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council charged her council tax in 2021 for a property she did not live in.
2. Ms X says the Council has stolen from her which has aggravated her health conditions. She wants the Council to write off the debt.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or 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

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

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My assessment

7. In 2021, Ms X signed a tenancy with the Council for a property. However, she never moved in and several months later the contract was terminated.
8. Since then the Council has pursued Ms X for the council tax she owes for that period. Lately, it decided to use its discretionary powers to write the debt off because of Ms X’s health conditions.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. The matters Ms X complains about took place over two years ago and it would have been reasonable for her to have complained to us earlier. Therefore, I will not exercise my discretion to investigate now.
10. But in any case, even if the complaint was not late, I would not investigate. Ms X signed the tenancy agreement for the property. Therefore, she was liable for its council tax, whether she lived there or not. So there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. And in any case, the Council has now decided to write off what Ms X owes so there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman