North Northamptonshire Council (26 009 278)
Category : Benefits and tax > Council tax
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about council tax liability. This is because we cannot consider a complaint where court proceedings had started relating to the matter.
The complaint
- X complained about the Council’s advice relating to council tax liability affecting their deceased mother’s estate. X said this caused distress and frustration and now wants the debt cancelled.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on council tax liability and council tax support or reduction and exemptions. The tribunal is an independent expert body. The Council must do what the tribunal tells it to.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X said the Council’s advice relating to their now deceased mother’s estate (Y) was flawed and as a result they received a summons to court for a council tax liability. The Council provided a response to X explaining why it issued a new decision on liability, after it received new information about Y’s estate.
- We cannot investigate this complaint. The law I have referred to at paragraph two means we cannot investigate a matter, where court proceedings has already been started relating to that same matter. This also includes where the court proceedings have concluded.
- In any case, we could not direct the Council to waive a debt relating to council tax liability. Only the Tribunal could do this.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate X’s complaint because the law does not allow us to consider a complaint where court proceedings had started relating to the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman