Summary: Mr X complained the Council used an address it knew he was not living in respect of council tax recovery action. The Council did not receive notification of Mr X’s new address and so used his last known address, which regulations allow it to do. There is no evidence of fault in respect of the Council using this address, but it did wrongly send correspondence to another address Mr X had not lived at for over 12 years.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council used an address where it knew he was not living in a respect of council tax recovery action.
2. Mr X says the recovery action, including instructing bailiffs, caused him distress and impacted on his health.

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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 recommend 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. This investigation has not considered issues about liability for council tax as this can be considered by the Valuation Tribunal.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

Council tax recovery summary

8. There are laws and regulations that control how councils collect council tax payments and how they can make people pay council tax they owe. (Council Tax [Administration and Enforcement] Regulations 1992)
9. Laws and regulations also control how enforcement agents can collect money owed to the council. (The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007)
10. The council tax bill for the year is due on 1 April. A council will usually collect this through monthly instalments. If a person who has to pay council tax misses any instalment, the council will send them a reminder. If they still do not pay, or miss another payment, then they must pay all they owe (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
11. Councils who want to recover unpaid council tax have to ask the magistrates’ court for a liability order against people it thinks owe it the money. Once a council has a liability order it can take action to recover the money and any court costs owed.
12. Most often councils take what is owed directly from the person’s benefits, from their wages (called getting an attachment of earnings order) or by using enforcement agents. The council can decide how to recover what is owed but it can only use one method for one liability order at one time.

Key facts

13. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.

14. Mr X moved into a property in January 2021 with the understanding that his rent payment included council tax. Mr X says that, for five months while living at the property, he claimed benefits but did not apply for any council tax reduction because he understood this was included in the rent payment. Mr X left the property in July 2023. He says that he wrote to the Council the same month advising it he had moved out and provided a forwarding address.
15. In October 2024 Mr X received a liability order saying he owed over £6,000. Mr X was shocked as he had not received any other correspondence stating he owed money. Mr X says the Council told him that it had continued to send correspondence to his previous address as it had not been informed of his new address. It said that the correspondence had been returned to it unopened stating “not known at this address”. Mr X says that the failure to notify him meant he had no opportunity to apply for benefits or discounts he was entitled to.
16. Mr X tried to make a complaint to the Council through its online process. He says that he attempted to submit the form three times, spending a significant amount of time on it, but the system would not allow him to submit the form. Mr X eventually managed to submit a complaint.
17. It said it had issued a council tax bill in July 2023, followed by a reminder in October and a summons in November. It said documents were issued to his previous address because it had not received notification of a forwarding address from Mr X. The Council then passed the case to enforcement agents who obtained Mr X's current address and contacted him in October 2024. In July 2025, the debt linked to the liability order was withdrawn from the enforcement agent and returned to the Council. It then offered Mr X two options:
• Keep the liability order but remove the costs to allow a payment plan; or
• Remove the summons and delete the liability order, reverting to a bill stage with a balance of £3,629.29, payable by March 2026.
18. After contact with the Council, a benefit deduction was applied to Mr X’s account. It explained the period this applied to and advised what other information it required to award benefit for other periods. The Council removed the costs and the liability order and set up a payment plan starting in September 2025. The Council apologised for the time taken to resolve the council tax complaint.
19. The Council completed a complaint review because Mr X was dissatisfied with the outcome. Mr X’s issues included concerns about correspondence being sent to his mother’s address where he had not lived for over 12 years, mishandling of benefits, data breaches and a lack of empathy for his situation.
20. The Council accepted it wrongly sent correspondence to his mother’s address and apologised. It provided information about how it sends bills and explained the regulations concerning what constitutes the “proper address” to use. It said the regulations allow it to post documents to the usual or last known place of residence. It explained that it had used its discretion to allow a backdated benefit award after initially telling Mr X benefit could not be awarded as the claim was made too late.
21. The Council, when reviewing the complaint, identified several service improvements. This included call handling training; advising call handlers to transfer to appropriate teams for specialist advice; training on the correct procedure when someone requests to make a complaint and review of telephone procedures. It also passed issues about the use of his mother’s address to the appropriate department for further investigation.
22. Mr X made a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. It replied on 27 July 2026, apologising for the delay. It said that, based on the evidence provided, the Council had not complied with its data protection obligations because it appeared to continue to send postal correspondence to addresses that it was aware were incorrect.

Analysis

23. Mr X complains about the Council sending correspondence to an address where it knew he was not living. He says the bill was incorrect and so the Council obtained the liability order based on false information. Mr X says the action taken was very distressing, especially because it occurred at a time he was receiving hospital treatment.
24. Mr X says that he did not register for council tax when he moved into a property in January 2021 because the landlord told him it was included in the rent. When I spoke with Mr X, he accepted his tenancy was ambiguous on this but trusted his landlord when he told him it was included. When Mr X left the property in July 2023, he wrote to the Council to notify it he had left the property and provided his new address. I therefore assume that Mr X received the council tax bill issued in July 2023 before he left the property; otherwise, there would be no reason to contact the Council. The Council says that it never received notification from Mr X of his new address.
25. I am unable to reach a conclusion on what happened regarding this point, even on the balance of probabilities. It is possible that Mr X sent a letter that was not received by the Council. There is no way for me to now investigate what happened.
26. The Council continued to take recovery action for unpaid council tax and wrote to Mr X at his previous property. It did this because it was his last known address. Some of the correspondence was returned to the council as addressee unknown and Mr X says the Council therefore should not have continued recovery action using that address. I find no fault in the Council continuing to write to the last known address as this is allowed by council tax regulations. Councils have a duty to collect money owed to it and regulations set out the process to follow. There is nothing to suggest any fault in that process.
27. Mr X has provided evidence from the Information Commissioner’s Office that upheld his complaint about the Council using an incorrect address. The decision letter from the ICO does not specify which address it refers to. The Council has accepted it incorrectly sent a bill to Mr X’s mother’s address and apologised for this in a complaint response. I have not seen evidence from the ICO which says the Council should not have used Mr X’s previous address for council tax recovery action and in the absence of such evidence, I do not find fault.
28. I note the Council has taken action in respect of the council tax recovery action including using its discretion to award backdated benefit, removing costs and agreeing a repayment schedule with Mr X. It has also apologised for failings in its dealings with Mr X and made service improvements where appropriate to learn from this case.

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Final decision

29. I will not pursue the complaint further as there is no evidence the Council was at fault for using Mr X’s last known address for council tax recovery action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman