Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax enforcement costs because there is no evidence of fault and there was a court remedy.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council issued Council tax bills to the wrong address which resulted in court costs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X says that the Council issued Council tax bills to her previous address (A) which meant that she did not receive Council tax bills to her current address (B) for a property she had previously rented to a tenant (C).
7. The Council says that, despite correspondence with Ms X had to her address (B), they had a former address for her officially for correspondence for her as a landlord of the previously tenanted address (A).
8. Ms X says that she believed that any bills of the tenanted address (C) would be sent to her current one (B) as the Council had corresponded with her at that address.
9. Whilst Ms X assumed that correspondence for address C would be sent to address B, there is no evidence that the correspondence address had ever been officially changed so the Council’s correspondence to address A was not fault.
10. Nevertheless, Ms X could have challenged any failure to property notify her of legal enforcement action for Council tax in court on the basis that the Council had not property notified her of such action.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and there was a court remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman