Summary: Mr Y complained about the Council’s handling of his partner, Ms X’s, council tax account. We found fault because the Council failed to adequately consider in a timely manner whether documents were being served to Ms X at the proper address. This caused Ms X avoidable distress and meant she paid an enforcement fee she should not have been charged. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, refund the relevant fee and issue a reminder to relevant staff.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council failed to send council tax bills to the liability address for his partner Ms X. He says it instead sent them to an out-of-date address where Ms X had not lived for some time which led to enforcement agents becoming involved and costs attached.
2. He says this has caused Ms X distress and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered all the information Ms X and Mr Y provided. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
7. Mr Y and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken any comments received into consideration before reaching my final decision.

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What I found

Council tax

8. Before anyone can be pursued for council tax they must have been sent a demand with their name on it. Documents must be served on a person.
9. Council tax documents are sent under section 233 of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act).
10. Summonses are sent under The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (the regulations).
11. Both the act and the regulations say the document may be served on a person by delivering it to them (in person), leaving it at their proper address or sending it by post to their proper address.
12. The proper address is taken to be the last known address. There is no need to use registered or recorded post.

What happened

13. I have set out below a summary of the key events. This is not meant to show everything that happened.
14. In 2012, Ms X moved out of a property she owned in the Council’s area, Property A. She advised the Council she would continue to own the property and rent it out. The Council asked Ms X for a forwarding address. Ms X replied and gave the Council what she termed as her ‘new address’, Property B. This was out of the Council’s area.
15. Ms X had no further contact with the Council regarding council tax liability at Property A over the coming years.
16. In December 2023, Ms X’s tenant contacted the Council to say they were moving out of Property A. They gave the end date for their liability.

Ms X’s liability for December 2023 to March 2024

17. At the beginning of January 2024, the Council put the account for Property A back into Ms X’s name.
18. It issued a bill (bill one) from December 2023 for the rest of the council tax year ending in March 2024.
19. It sent January’s bill to Property B.
20. In mid-February it sent a reminder about January’s bill to Property B.
21. At the end of March, it sent a summons notice because January’s bill had not been paid. The summons notice added £95 onto the council tax costs owing. It was sent to Property B.
22. In mid-April and when nothing had been paid, the Council passed the case to its enforcement agents, Company J. This added a further £75 to the costs involved.

Ms X’s liability for the 2024 to 2025 council tax year

23. At the beginning of March 2024, the Council sent Ms X the upcoming annual bill for Property A (bill two). It was sent to Property B.
24. At the beginning of April, the Council sent the reminder for the first instalment of the annual bill to Property B.
25. At the end of April, the reminder notice was returned to sender as ‘addressee gone away’ and received back by the Council.
26. At the end of May and when nothing had been paid, a summons notice was sent to Property B.
27. At the beginning of June, the summons notice was received back by the Council and returned showing as ‘addressee unknown’.

Further contact

28. A few days after the summons notice was received back by the Council, the Council noticed that Company J’s portal was showing a new address for Ms X. Company J had got the address from a credit reference agency.
29. The Council updated its records to this address, which was out of its area, Property C. At this time, the Council also cancelled the reminder notice and summons for bill two.
30. In mid-June, Ms X contacted the Council. She said she had received a final warning letter from Company J about unpaid council tax. She said this was the first letter she had received and was liable for the council tax from December 2023 until early 2024 when she had sold Property A. She asked the Council to email a bill for this period or send it in the post to Property C.
31. In mid-July, and after further communications between Ms X and the Council, it said it would notify Company J of the amended balance owing and that she should contact Company J to pay.
32. At the end of July, Ms X paid Company J nearly £600.
33. After communications with the Council, Ms X filled out a refund request form at the end of August. She received a refund of £266 in mid-September. This meant she had paid her liability for Property A in addition to enforcement related fees.
34. In mid-October, Ms X complained to the Council. She was unhappy that:
• it had not sent any documents to Property A before it knew of her new address;
• it ignored her telephone call updating it where to send her bills (made at the time she sold Property A); and
• that an officer had said other bills were sent to Property B between 2021 and 2024.
35. Ms X said she would accept refunds of £310 from Company J and £75 costs or she would bring the matter to the Ombudsman and add her own costs to the refund she was seeking.
36. The Council sent its stage one response at the end of October. It said it was satisfied it had sent bills and notices to Property B as this was the address held on file for her. It also said it updated her details to Property C in June when it had the current address information. It confirmed it had processed the relevant refund for her and that no further credit would be applied.
37. At the beginning of November, Ms X escalated her complaint to stage two of the Council’s process. She remained unhappy with the stage one complaint response and said she would accept a payment which included all of the extra fees to be refunded in addition to £200 for her own costs and hurt feelings.
38. The Council sent its stage two response late in November 2024 and said:
• all bills and documents were sent to Property B as she had informed them of it being her new address in 2012;
• the documents relating to her council tax liability for 2023-24 and sent to Property B were not returned as undelivered, so any associated costs were issued correctly and via the correct recovery procedure;
• the reminder and summons notices for the 2024-25 liability were withdrawn (including any costs) when they were returned as undelivered;
• the onus was on the legal owner of the property to provide the Council with an up-to-date contact address; and
• it was unable to provide her with any compensation as its actions were taken to meet legal requirements.
39. The Council signposted Ms X to the Ombudsman. She then brought her complaint to us.

Fees charged

40. In response to my enquiries, the Council clarified the additional/enforcement fees charged to Ms X:
• £95 when a summons was issued for bill one in late-March;
• £75 when Company J accepted the case in mid-April; and
• £235 when Company J appointed an enforcement officer at the beginning of June.

Analysis

Bill one

41. The Council had a duty to send documents to the ‘proper address’ it held on file for Ms X, as per the Act and the regulations. I am satisfied the Council acted correctly when it sent bill one and the linked reminder and summons for bill one to Property B.
42. I am satisfied any fees incurred relating to bill one were considered correctly by the Council and added as such. Fees were £95 at the end of March and £75 added in mid-April.
43. The Council held Property B’s address on file from 2012 when Ms X told it Property B was her new address. I am satisfied the Council is not at fault for sending documents here in the absence of a more up-to-date address.

Bill two

44. The annual bill for 2024-2025 was sent to Property B early in March 2024. I am satisfied this was correctly served to what the Council believed was the proper address. There is no evidence of this being returned to sender.
45. The reminder for the first instalment of bill two was sent to property B early in April 2024. It was returned to the Council at the end of the month as ‘addressee away’.
46. In its stage two complaint response, the Council said it had removed the reminder notice and summons and any associated costs when it updated Ms X’s address to Property C in June 2024. Although it made the point that it had served documents to the address on file, I am satisfied there was no consideration of whether all the documents sent to Property B had been correctly served.
47. When the first piece of post was returned, and in the circumstances of this complaint, I am satisfied the Council should have stopped any enforcement proceedings or further fees being incurred by Ms X. It should have done so until it had satisfied itself Property B was the proper address to send documents to and that the documents were being properly served by sending them there. There is no evidence the Council did this.
48. Although the Council said all associated fees had been removed, evidence shows Company J added a fee of £235 at the beginning of June. This was when it assigned an enforcement agent to the account.
49. On the balance of probabilities and in the circumstances of this complaint, I am satisfied it is more likely than not that if the Council had placed Ms X’s account on hold after the first piece of post was received back in April, the fee would not have been added. Instead, it placed it on hold when it noticed the new address on Company J’s portal. I am satisfied that adding the fee when the Council had not considered if Property B was the correct address and documents were being properly served there was fault. It would have caused Ms X avoidable distress and meant that she paid a fee she should not have been charged. I have made a recommendation below to remedy this injustice.

Telephone call

50. Ms X said in her correspondence to the Council that she had advised it she had contacted it by telephone to confirm when she had sold Property A. I have viewed the logs of telephone contacts and there is no record of this call. I am therefore unable to say whether the Council acted with any fault here.

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Agreed action

51. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults I have identified, I recommend the Council should take the following action within four weeks of the date of my final decision:
• apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused by the identified fault;
• refund the £235 enforcement agent fee incurred after the end of April 2024; and
• remind relevant officers and managers of the need to take a proactive stance to consider whether council tax documents issued have been correctly served to the proper address, in relevant cases.
52. The apology written should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies on making an effective apology.
53. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

54. I have now completed my investigation. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman