Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s use of enforcement agents to recover unpaid council tax. We cannot investigate matters which have bene subject to court proceedings. We will not investigate the Council billing Mrs X at an old address because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council taking court action over unpaid council tax for a property she owns. She says she was unaware of the action until after the Council had obtained a liability order because it sent all correspondence to a previous address. She also complained about the actions of the enforcement agent when he visited her home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

4. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says the Council sent enforcement agents to her home after she found she had bene taken to court for unpaid council tax on a property which she owns. She says she did not receive any of the bills, reminders or summons because the Council sent these to her former home address.
8. The Council told her that it issued the documents to the address which she provided and that she did not update her contact address for this property. The billing authority is required by the council tax regulations to issue liability correspondence to the party who provided the contact address and the onus was on her to update any changes.
9. We cannot consider any of the Council’s actions once a summons was issued because we cannot investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings. there was no fault in the Council sending documents to the address provided by Mrs X. It had no authority to send them to any other address for the property in question.
10. Mrs X says the enforcement agent who visited her was intimidating and threatened to enter her home and take possession of her goods. The Council says the agent’s bodycam does not show this and that he remained outside the property and informed her what he was visiting for. Mrs X paid the agent but does not believe she should have done so had she not felt upset by the contact.
11. Mrs X says the Council referred to the bodycam footage in its responses but it did not provide her with a copy in response to the Freedom of Information access request which she made. She says she is worried about the court costs and the effect on her credit rating. Liability orders are not issued by the County Court and do not impact personal credit history. The costs for the court action were correctly incurred and the amounts are set by the Ministry of Justice. Mrs X could complain to the office of the Information Commissioner if she believes the Council is withholding personal data which she believes she is entitled to see.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s use of enforcement agents to recover unpaid council tax. We cannot investigate matters which have bene subject to court proceedings. We will not investigate the Council billing Mrs X at an old address because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman