Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council tax bill. This is because the Council has taken appropriate action in response to Ms X’s complaint, and the remaining injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council sent council tax bills to the wrong address for more than two years. She says enforcement agents added fees and threatened recovery action. This caused her distress and anxiety. She seeks an apology and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).

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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (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 and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Ms X owned a property which she rented out. She then moved into it in 2022.
5. In 2025 Ms X complained the Council sent council tax bills to the wrong address, despite her notifying it of the correct address. She said she had contacted the Council to ask it about bills, but it said there were delays due to a cyber attack. She only became aware of the arrears in 2025 when enforcement agents contacted her. This caused distress and anxiety. She also believed the Council had disclosed personal data and her credit rating would be affected. She said the Council should apologise and pay her a financial remedy of £1000.
6. In its response to Ms X’s complaint the Council said
• It noted Ms X advised it in 2022 of her forwarding address when she moved out of another address, but it did not know that she was responsible for that property.
• The previous tenant had advised it they had moved out, and it then sent bills to Ms X to an address it had previously used for periods the property was empty.
• It had no record of Ms X contacting it about bills for the property.
• It received her recent form saying she had moved out of the property two years ago. It had replied as the owner she was liable for council tax when empty.
• It had asked when she moved into the property as it did not have a record of her moving in date. It also asked for her moving out date.
• It agreed to recall the account from its agent when she provided information.
• It did not agree it should pay the compensation Ms X requested.
7. Ms X complained further that the Council was responsible for sending bills to the wrong address. And it had incorrectly stated she had moved out of the property, as she still lived there.
8. The Council replied that Ms X’s recent moving out form had caused the confusion. It accepted it should have asked for additional information when it received the form. It apologised and confirmed it had withdrawn the account from its enforcement agent and had removed the costs. It did not agree to the compensation requested.
9. The Council said it was not aware that Ms X was responsible as the occupant of the property. It has no record of Ms X contacting it about not receiving any bills. It was not until July 2025 that the matter became clear.
10. The Council has taken appropriate action in apologising, withdrawing the account from its agent and removing costs. I do not consider there is significant remaining injustice that warrants an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the Council has taken appropriate action, and there is not enough remaining injustice to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman