Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the administration of a council tax account as it is unlikely we will find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council made him liable for council tax in error and wrongly passed the account to its enforcement agents to recover. Mr X says this impacted on his credit rating.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

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

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Background

5. Mr X complains the Council sent him an erroneous council tax bill for his rental property for a period it was tenanted and took recovery action on the account by passing it to its enforcement agents instead of reviewing the facts.
6. The Council, in its complaint responses to Mr X, said it requested information from him regarding tenants at the property in July 2024. The Council held Mr X liable for the council tax as it said it heard nothing from him. As such, and as no payment was made, the Council placed the account in the hands of its enforcement agents. This was after, the Council said, it had sent bills, reminders and a summons to Mr X’s email address, and had then obtained a liability order.
7. The Council said Mr X did not contact it until after the account had been passed to the enforcement agents. When Mr X did make contact to give names of tenants, the Council asked Mr X to provide further information. The Council said he did not do this, so the account remained in his name.

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My assessment

8. The Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides the framework for council tax in the UK. It empowers councils to request necessary information from residents to determine who is responsible for paying council tax on a property. While I recognise that Mr X was unhappy about the Council contacting him for such information, it was empowered to do so under this law, and it is unlikely we would find fault by it for taking such action.
9. The Council is also empowered to take recovery action when a bill is not paid. Again, I consider it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council in this regard, given that it says it did not receive information from Mr X that would have enabled it to determine he was not liable.
10. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because It is unlikely we would find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman