Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s pursuit of Mr X for unpaid council tax. This is because Mr X had right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it would have been reasonable for him to use it. In addition, an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to update its records after his previous tenant vacated a property in 2019 and wrongly held him liable for council tax.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes rest\rictions on what we can investigate.
3. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
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.
  (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 Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council after becoming aware the Council had referred unpaid council tax debt in his name to an enforcement agency. Mr X said the Council had been notified in 2019 that the previous tenant had vacated the property and the property had been sold shortly afterwards, meaning he was not liable for the debt.
8. The Council apologised and told Mr X it would cease collections activity but advised it did not receive notice that Mr X was not liable for the council tax until 2023. The Council therefore sent bills and reminder notices to the last known forwarding address for Mr X before passing the account to an external enforcement agency. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman as he was unhappy with the Council’s response and disputed its summary of what had happened.
9. The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate complaints where the complainant has right of appeal to a Tribunal. In this case, it would have been reasonable for Mr X to refer this matter to the Valuation Tribunal, as this is the body set up to review cases of disputed liability relating to council tax. It is open to Mr X to take this matter to Tribunal if he is still unhappy.
10. Further, there is no evidence the Council received notification of the previous tenant’s liability for council tax until 2023. It is therefore unlikely that an investigation would find fault with the Council’s management of this situation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because Mr X had right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal and it would have been reasonable for him to use it. In addition, an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman