London Borough of Ealing (24 009 424)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Ms X’s complaint about receiving liability orders for council tax arrears dating back to 2022. We have no jurisdiction to investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings.
The complaint
- Ms X says she has received summonses and liability orders for council tax since 2022 for arrears which she has disputed over the past two years. The Council served the most recent summonses and obtained liability order sin June and July 2024.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X says she received a summons in 2022 and the Council took action in the Magistrates court in 2023 to obtain a liability order. She says the judge did not grant an order on this occasion because she needed an opportunity to obtain further information. We cannot consider any of the actions before August 2023 because these are outside the12-month period for receiving complaints. We could not have considered the court actions before this period in any event.
- Ms X received summonses in 2024 for the period 2023-24 and the current year 2024-25. She did not keep to a payment agreement and the Council obtained liability orders in June and July for the debts.
We cannot investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings. In the case of council tax court action commences with the issue of a summons.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint about Ms X’s complaint about receiving liability orders for council tax arrears dating back to 2022. We have no jurisdiction to investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman