Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s liability for council tax. The Valuation Tribunal has already considered the matter, and we have no power to reconsider it or overturn its decision.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision she was liable for council tax for properties she does not own, despite her receiving guaranteed pension credit. She said the Council made her bankrupt and enabled liquidators to steal one of the properties owned by her son to pay the debt it said she owed. She says it also arranged to take payments directly from her benefits. She considered these actions harassment, theft and fraud. She said the matter has caused distress for her and her children and she was evicted from her home. She wanted the Council to acknowledge fault, agree she is not liable to pay council tax, return the property to her son and pay compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
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 councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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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. The Valuation Tribunal is best placed to consider disagreements about whether a person is liable to pay council tax. Therefore, when someone complains about a council’s decision they are liable to pay council tax, we will normally signpost them to the Valuation Tribunal.
8. In this case, Mrs X rightly used her right to appeal the matter to the Valuation Tribunal. She remained dissatisfied, as the Valuation Tribunal decided she was liable for some of the council tax in dispute. We cannot overturn the tribunal’s decision, and we have no power to investigate the matter. Mrs X could have appealed the tribunal’s decision on a point of law.
9. Mrs X’s complaint is also about the Council’s methods of recovering the debt:
• The Council made Mrs X bankrupt more than ten years ago. The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. This complaint is now too late for us to consider. In any event, Mrs X’s complaint is based on her assertion the debt was not owed in the first place, which is something we could not decide. If a court has made a debtor bankrupt then it was satisfied that the debt was owed, and we cannot overturn this.
• The Council applied to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to receive payment directly from Mrs X’s pension credit. Decisions made by the Secretary of State are not within our jurisdiction.
10. We will not, therefore, investigate Mrs X’s complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she already used her right to appeal the matter to the Valuation Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman