Summary: The Council wrongly sent Ms X summons and liability orders relating to Council Tax for a rental property she owns. The Council has accepted fault for a delay in withdrawing the summons. It has withdrawn the summons, removed any associated costs, apologised and offered a suitable payment.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council incorrectly charged her Council Tax for her rental property. She also complains that she provided the Council with up-to-date contact details but did not receive any Council Tax reminders, court summons or decisions as these were sent to a letting agent she was no longer using.
2. She said poor communication by the Council has caused her distress, uncertainty and frustration.

Back to top

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. 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(1), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Council Tax recovery

7. The recovery of Council Tax is governed by the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992. These set out the steps a council must take to pursue unpaid Council Tax.
8. The Council Tax bill is normally due in full on 1 April, but councils usually allow payment by monthly instalments. If a person misses an instalment, the council will issue a reminder. If payment is not made, or if further payments are missed, the right to pay by instalments is lost and the full year’s charge becomes due.
9. To enforce recovery, a council must apply to the magistrates’ court for a liability order. This gives the council legal authority to pursue enforcement action, which may include instructing enforcement agents. Councils may also add court and enforcement costs to the amount owed.
10. Councils should take reasonable steps to ensure that Council Tax notices and recovery documents are sent to the correct address. They are expected to act on up-to-date information where available. Where notices are issued to an address the council has reason to believe is no longer current, this may undermine the fairness of recovery action.

Good administrative practice

11. The Ombudsman expects councils to follow principles of good administrative practice. This includes keeping accurate and timely records, responding appropriately to correspondence, and ensuring decisions are based on up-to-date information. Councils should act fairly, proportionately, and consistently, and ensure individuals are not disadvantaged by avoidable delay, poor communication, or failures in record-keeping. Where problems are identified, councils should take prompt action to put things right and minimise any avoidable harm. These principles are set out in the Ombudsman’s guidance on Good Administrative Practice, which forms part of our approach to assessing fault

What happened

12. In September 2024 the Council contacted Ms X via email to notify her she was subject to court proceedings regarding outstanding Council Tax for a rental property she owned. Ms X said this was the first contact she had received from the Council since 2022 and not received any correspondence about outstanding Council Tax.
13. In October 2024 Ms X complained to the Council. She said she had replied to the Councils email immediately but had found it very difficult to speak with anyone to and she had not been phoned back about the matter as promised. Further, the amount of Council Tax owed had been recalculated but this remained incorrect.
14. In mid-October, a property managing agent forwarded Ms X a Council Tax bill for her rental property. Ms X enquired with the agent why it had done this, saying she had not done business with them for over four years. She said the Council had sent the agent a number of Council Tax bills since January 2023 and asked what the agent had done with this previous correspondence. The agent said any correspondence sent to its branches would have been forwarded to Ms X.
15. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint it said:
• the managing agent had informed the Council it was to act on Ms X’s behalf in 2014 for the property. Ms X’s home address was on its system, however there were no records showing the agent was no longer acting on her behalf and should not be sent correspondence;
• Ms X had submitted an online form at the end of December 2022 to advise her tenants had moved out on the 19 December. The tenant had submitted a moving form in early January advising they vacated the property on the 17 December. Records were updated to show the property as empty from the 17 December, and all necessary notices were issued to Ms X through the managing agent;
• as there had been no response to requests for payment, recovery action had begun. An email was sent directly to Ms X during enquires to trace the bad debt. This email provided the main switch board number rather than the Council Tax department and this may have caused a small delay to Ms X. Further Ms X should have been called back as promised and it apologised for this; and
• summons costs had been removed, and records had been updated to show the start date of the account as the 19 December. Ms X should provide the vacation notice received from the tenant to ensure the empty property discount was applied to the correct dates. Debt recovery would be paused for four weeks to allow this evidence to be provided.
16. After a phone call with Ms X, the Council sent Ms X an email advising the summons had been withdrawn pending the resolution of the issues discussed.
17. In mid-November 2024, Ms X escalated her complaint she said:
• she had received notification of a court liability order from November but had been previously told the summons had been withdrawn;
• she had updated her contact details with the Council in 2022 when her tenants had moved out and had no contact with the Council until 2024 via email;
• she had created an online account and could see all correspondence had been sent to the agent, although they said they had not received anything;
• her Council Tax bill had been calculated using incorrect dates; and
• complaint responses had been delayed.
18. In its response the Council said the email had advised Ms X the recovery action had been paused pending confirmation of liability and she had received a letter advising summons had been withdrawn. However, due to Council oversight, a liability order had been obtained from the court. Both the summons and liability costs had now been withdrawn. It said its stage one response had explained why correspondence had been sent to the managing agent.
19. For the oversight of not removing the summons as agreed, the Council offered Ms X £50 compensation.
20. Ms X remained unhappy with the Councils response. She said she had supplied her correct details in 2022, had not received a correct Council Tax bill but had paid the most recent version in full and did not feel the £50 compensation for oversight was adequate. She asked the Ombudsman to investigate.

Analysis

21. Documents provided by the Council show it sent Council Tax bills and the subsequent notices relating to Ms X’s property to the managing agent. Whilst it had access to other contact information for Ms X, it had no record instructing that these should be used. There was no fault in the Council sending bills to the managing agent.
22. The Council has now updated and sent Ms X a corrected Council Tax bill for the disputed period. The Council documents set out how it calculated the debt for the Council Tax period. I am satisfied the Council has correctly calculated the amount due. Further Ms X has paid the outstanding debt.
23. Council Tax is due in interim periods, so if Ms X had not received an expected Council Tax bill for her rental property, it would have been reasonable for her to make enquires with the Council at the time. The Council provides an easily accessible website for enquires and a specific link to enable landlords to update contact information. I have not seen any reason why Ms X could not have used these to ensure bills were sent to her preferred address.
24. The Council has a responsibility to collect Council Tax and was within its rights to pursue the debt. I am satisfied the Council took reasonable steps by using Ms X’s email address to trace the debt after receiving no response to bills or notices sent to the managing agent. Further whilst Ms X suffered some distress from receiving the summons twice, these along with the liability orders have been withdrawn and the associated cost removed, ending the threat of legal action. The Council has accepted this fault, apologised and offered Ms X £50 compensation. This is sufficient to remedy the injustice caused.

Back to top

Decision

25. The Council was at fault however it has already apologised and offered Ms X suitable a payment.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman