Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax arrears and enforcement following a liability order. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council referred his council tax debt to an enforcement agency following a liability order. He said the liability order was defective and enforcement fees should not have been added.
2. Mr X also complained the Council did not apply council tax support to his bills in 2023. He wants enforcement action to stop and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction.
8. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by the complainant.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. The Council referred Mr X’s council tax arrears to enforcement agents following a liability order. Mr X said the liability order was defective because he did not receive the summons. The serving of the summons is the start of legal proceedings and therefore not in our jurisdiction. Any challenge of the liability order must be made through the magistrates court.
12. Mr X said the Council should not have referred his debt to enforcement agents and enforcement fees should not have been applied to his account whilst he challenged the liability order. The Council are entitled to enforce a liability order once issued by the court. The enforcement agency is entitled to include fee’s as set out in the Taking Control of Good’s (Fees) Regulations 2014. Therefore, it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions.
13. Mr X said the Council should have applied council tax support to his account. Mr X applied for council tax support in 2023, and his application was closed after he did not provide the Council with documents it requested. This complaint is late, and I see no good reason Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. Mr X also has a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal if he disagrees with the Council’s decision on council tax support.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman