Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s council tax. The law prevents us investigating court action the Council took. Some points of complaint are late without good enough reason to accept them now. The Council has not had a reasonable opportunity to deal with a complaint about other matters.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of council tax for her previous address, including saying she owes money that she has already paid, taking court action, not agreeing a suitable instalment arrangement and involving enforcement agents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and copy complaint correspondence from the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X is dissatisfied with the Council issuing court summonses (at least one of which she says she did not receive) and taking court action for council tax the Council said Mrs X owed. The restriction in paragraph 3 prevents us considering events between the issuing of a summons and the court issuing a liability order or otherwise ending the court action. So we cannot investigate action involving any summons or any other part of the court action.

Events covered in complaint to Council December 2022 – March 2023

9. Much of the complaint concerns a dispute about whether Mrs X still owes council tax arrears dating back several years. This turns on whether, as Mrs X says, Mrs X cleared those arrears in February 2022 or whether, as the Council says, Mrs X did not make one more payment needed to clear the arrears in March 2022.
10. The Council also says Mrs X did not pay the 2022/23 council tax in line with a changed bill it sent in September 2022. It has pursued Mrs X for arrears on that point too.
11. Mrs X has known the Council’s position on those points at least since the Council’s stage one response to her complaint in January 2023. The same applies to the Council charging Mrs X costs related to court action and passing that debt to enforcement agents in late 2022. The Council’s final response to the complaint on 1 March 2023 reiterated the Council’s position and said Mrs X could come to the Ombudsman if she disagreed.
12. Mrs X did not complain to us until July 2024. So the restriction in paragraph 4 applies to any complaint about the alleged historic arrears.
13. If Mrs X believed the Council was wrong about her payments towards the pre-2022 arrears and the 2022/23 council tax, she could reasonably have complained to us within 12 months of 1 March 2023 at the latest. I see no reason to believe Mrs X could reasonably have expected the Council’s position to change later than 12 months after that decision, at the very latest. I appreciate Mrs X has been dealing with other matters related to her council tax since March 2023. However, the point about the historic arrears was relevant to any action the Council might take, so Mrs X could reasonably have brought this to us in good time. I am not persuaded to accept the late complaint about this matter.

Events since the Council’s complaint response of 1 March 2023

14. Mrs X also complains about events since the Council’s final response to her complaint on 1 March 2023. Those more recent events include: a charge for enforcement agents visiting, which Mrs X says the Council has not properly explained as the Council has given different dates in 2023 for this claimed visit, including a date after Mrs X had left the address visited; Mrs X’s view that she should only owe council tax for April to July 2023; the Council or its enforcement agents not agreeing Mrs X’s request to pay any arrears at £50 a month; and continuing dealings with enforcement agents.
15. We normally expect complaints about such matters to be put to the Council and usually to complete the Council’s complaint procedure before we will consider them. These events were after the complaint the Council finished dealing with in March 2023. So that complaint to the Council did not cover these events. Nor have I seen any evidence of Mrs X giving the Council an opportunity to deal with these matters in its complaint procedure since then. So the restriction in paragraph 5 applies to these points. Mrs X could reasonably have given the Council the opportunity to deal with these points as a formal complaint. In the circumstances it is fair to expect the Council to have the opportunity to deal with any such matters as a complaint before we will get involved.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The law prevents us investigating the court action. The complaint about some matters is late without good enough reason to accept it now. The Council has not had a reasonable opportunity to deal with a complaint about other matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman