Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled a council tax account and arrears. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains about the way the Council handled a change in her circumstances, for council tax, after tenants left a property she owns. Mrs X wants compensation to the value of the council tax for the period for which she received a summons.

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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 an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

(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 Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mrs X owns property A which was rented to tenants. The tenants left last summer and Mrs X told the Council. The Council sent a council tax bill to Mrs X at the address it held for her (property B). Mrs X did not receive the bill and does not accept the Council did not have her current address. She says the Council could have contacted her by phone or email.
5. In August Mrs X sent an email to the Council’s contact centre giving information and asking for a council tax bill to be sent to property A. The Council says the council tax team did not receive this email.
6. In October the Council issued a court summons because it had not received any council tax for property A since the tenants left. It sent the summons to property B and property C. Mrs X immediately paid the council tax and the court costs. She called the Council and, during discussions, the Council realised it had not received the August email. The Council withdrew the summons and refunded the court costs.
7. Mrs X complained and raised many points; the complaints included that the Council could have contacted her, errors, inaccuracies, a lack of responsiveness, and false accusations leading to a summons. In response the Council explained why it only had the former contact address for Mrs X and why it sent the bill to that address. It apologised for not receiving the August email and said that was why it had cancelled the summons. It apologised for late complaint responses, confirmed the council tax account is in joint names and explained it does not have the resources to call people when they have arrears. It declined Mrs X’s request for compensation.
8. I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council explained why it sent the bill to property B and there is nothing to suggest that explanation is wrong. And, having not received any payments, it acted correctly in serving a summons and sending it to both addresses. It is not known what happened to the August email but this does not represent fault requiring an investigation. As soon as the Council became aware of what had happened it immediately cancelled the summons and costs. In addition, it answered all Mrs X’s complaints and comments and, while Mrs X may disagree with the responses, that disagreement does not mean the Council is at fault.
9. I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. I appreciate receiving a summons may have been stressful and upsetting but the matter was swiftly resolved. Mrs X has not suffered a financial loss and the matter did not proceed to court. There were some delays by the Council in responding to Mrs X’s complaints but it has apologised and the delays did not affect the council tax situation as the summons had already been withdrawn. I acknowledged Mrs X’s view that the Council handled this matter badly but I have not seen anything to suggest the Council should pay compensation or that an investigation is needed.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman