Summary: Ms X complains that the Council wrongly passed her Council Tax account to enforcement agents to collect. The Council is at fault as it did not send Council Tax bills and correspondence to Ms X’s forwarding address. The fault caused significant distress to Ms X. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice to Ms X by making a payment of £200 to her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council wrongly passed her Council Tax account to its enforcement agents to collect and delayed in reimbursing money she had paid to the enforcement agents. As a result, Ms X was caused significant distress by finding out from her tenant that the enforcement agents had sent notices and called at the property. Ms X has also said that she was caused financial distress by having to pay the enforcement agents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have:

• Considered the complaint and the information provided by Ms X;
• Considered information provided by the Council, including its responses to Ms X’s complaint;
• Invited Ms X and the Council to comment on the draft decision. I considered the comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

6. Council Tax is charged for occupation on a daily basis and someone is always liable for Council Tax unless a property is exempt. The Local Government and Finance Act 1992 sets out a hierarchy of liability to pay Council Tax. The owner of a property is liable to pay Council Tax if a property is empty.
7. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cover both the way councils collect payments of council tax and the way councils can recover council tax debt. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and associated regulations cover the way enforcement agents may recover debts.
8. The Council Tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect payment through monthly instalments. If the liable person misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If a payment is still not made or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
9. 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. Once a council has a liability order it can take recovery action. The most commonly used methods of recovery include using enforcement agents.

What happened

10. The following is a summary of the key facts relevant to my consideration of the complaint. It does not include everything that happened.
11. Ms X rented her property to a tenant. In March 2023, the Council issued a Council Tax bill to Ms X for the period 28 February to 31 March 2023 following a notification that Ms X’s tenant had vacated the property. The Council then issued a revised bill following notification that another tenant had moved into the property. This bill was for the period 28 February to 19 March 2023 for the sum of £76.30.
12. Ms X did not receive the bills as the Council sent them to the rented property instead of Ms X’s forwarding address. The Council then issued a reminder, final notice and summons for the bill. It also sent these documents to the rented property so Ms X did not receive them.
13. The Council obtained a liability order and passed Ms X’s account to enforcement agents to collect. The enforcement agent’s records show it sent enforcement notices to the rented property in June and July 2023. An enforcement agent visited the property in early October 2023. The enforcement agent added fees to Ms X’s account for the notices and visit.
14. In early October 2023, Ms X’s tenant informed her about the enforcement agent’s notices and visit. Ms X contacted the enforcement agent. She made a payment of £142.14 and arranged a payment plan for the outstanding amount.
15. Ms X also contacted the Council and made a complaint during a conversation with a senior officer. The Council found that the bills and recovery documents had been sent to the rented property address rather than Ms X’s forwarding address. The Council withdrew Ms X’s account from the enforcement agents and asked them to remove their costs. The Council also removed its recovery costs and arranged a refund for Ms X.
16. The Council considered Ms X’s complaint at stage one of its two stage complaints process. In its response, the Council acknowledged it had not updated Ms X’s forwarding address. As a result, its sent the further correspondence to the rented property. The Council apologised for the inconvenience caused. It also said it would refund the difference between the payment made and the Council Tax of £76.30 when the enforcement agents returned the payment.
17. In November 2023, Ms X escalated her complaint to stage two of the complaints procedure. Ms X complained about the Council charging her and passing her account to enforcement agents for a period of less than two weeks Council Tax. Ms X also said the Council’s error in not sending the correspondence to the correct address had caused significant distress to her which warranted compensation. In her letter Ms X also said she had received the reimbursement.
18. The Council responded to Ms X’s stage two complaint in mid November 2023. The Council explained how the charge for Council Tax had accrued. It also explained what had happened and that it had not updated Ms X’s forwarding address. The Council also acknowledged it had not applied an empty property discount for the period the property was empty. It applied the discount which reduced the Council Tax bill to £38.15. The Council declined Ms X’s request for compensation as she had not suffered any financial detriment so did not meet the Council’s criteria for financial assistance.
19. Ms X has said she would not have known the original bill was incorrect if she had not escalated her complaint to stage two.

Analysis

20. The Council has acknowledged that it wrongly sent the Council Tax bills, reminders and other correspondence to the rented property rather than Ms X’s forwarding address. This is fault. As a result of the fault, Ms X was not aware that she owed Council Tax so was not given the opportunity to pay it. Ms X was also caused significant avoidable distress when she became aware that enforcement agents had sent notices and called at the property she rents out. Ms X had to make a payment to them. The fault also caused inconvenience to Ms X as she had to contact the Council to resolve the matter.
21. The Council also did not apply the empty property discount when sending the bill to Ms X. Ms X has said she told the Council that the property was empty before the Council sent the bill. I cannot conclude whether the Council is at fault for not applying the empty property discount without further investigation. But it is not proportionate to investigate the matter further as the Council has now applied the discount. Any delay in applying the discount did not cause significant injustice to Ms X over and above the distress caused to her by the failure to notify her of the bills and recovery action.
22. I understand Ms X considers the Council delayed in reimbursing the money she paid to the enforcement agents. I note Ms X said the money had been repaid when she made her stage two complaint which was approximately a month after she first became aware of the matter. On balance, I do not consider there is evidence of significant delay in reimbursing Ms X. But even if the Council took longer than a month to reimburse the payment, I do not consider this would have caused significant injustice to Ms X to warrant pursuing this matter further.
23. The Council has apologised to Ms X for its failure to send the Council Tax bills and correspondence to her forwarding address. So, the question for me is whether this is an appropriate and proportionate remedy for Ms X’s injustice. As stated above, the fault by the Council caused significant distress to Ms X. I therefore consider it is appropriate and proportionate for the Council to make a symbolic payment of £200 to Ms X to acknowledge the distress and inconvenience caused to her.

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Agreed action

24. That the Council will:
1. Make a symbolic payment of £200 to Ms X to acknowledge the distress and inconvenience caused to her by failing to send the Council Tax bills her forwarding address. This payment is in accordance with our guidance on remedies.
2. By training or other means, share the learning from this complaint in order to remind officers to record forwarding addresses to ensure Council Tax bills are sent to the correct addresses.
25. The Council should take the action at a) within one month and the action at b) within two months of my final decision. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

26. Fault causing injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman