Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about inaccurate council records which led to the Council wrongly issuing council tax bills and legal notices in her name. The Council has upheld her complaint and offered a suitable remedy. It is unlikely an investigation would lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council maintained incorrect records wrongly listing her as a property owner for about eight years. She said this led to the Council incorrectly issuing council tax bills, reminders and legal notices in her name. She says the Council has accepted it was at fault and cancelled all the notices but has refused to provide compensation for the distress caused and time and trouble spent resolving her complaint.

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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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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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My assessment

5. In its complaint responses, the Council upheld her complaint. It accepted it had maintained inaccurate property ownership details for her and had not used the forwarding address she provided in 2015 for correspondence related to the council tax billing. It apologised to her for this error. It confirmed that she was not liable for the council tax from December 2015 and that all liability and legal notices issued in her and her husband’s name since December 2015 had been cancelled and removed from its council tax accounts.
6. The Council acknowledged the distress the matter had caused Ms X and that she had spent time and trouble resolving the complaint. It apologised to her for this. It said it would learn from her complaint and set out several actions it was taking to improve its service and prevent recurrence of a similar fault going forward.
7. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has upheld her complaint and taken appropriate corrective action. It has apologised to her for the errors and the distress and inconvenience caused. It has acted to learn from her complaint and improve its service moving forward. These are appropriate actions. It is unlikely an investigation by us would lead to a different outcome or achieve anything more.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is unlikely an investigation would lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman