Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council Tax liability, or the authenticity of a liability order. Miss X can appeal to the Valuation Tribunal about liability and would need to challenge the order in court. Also, we will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s communication with her because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about Council Tax liability. Miss X has contacted the Valuation Office Agency about this matter.
2. Miss X also complains she does not believe the Council has a liability order for outstanding Council Tax and so has wrongly taken enforcement action.
3. Miss X also says the Council did not consider reasonable adjustments when it told her it would no longer communicate with her about the Council Tax matter via email.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. The Valuation Tribunal deals with appeals against decisions on Council Tax liability and Council Tax support or reduction.
7. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

11. We consider our powers on what we could achieve as part of our consideration of whether an alternative remedy exists and whether it is reasonable for a person to use it.
12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about Council Tax liability. Miss X has an alternative remedy available via appealing to the Valuation Tribunal. The Ombudsman cannot decide Council Tax liability, so it is reasonable to expect Miss X to appeal to the Tribunal.
13. Also, we will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the legality of the liability order the Council has. We cannot decide points of law, or rule on the legality of a liability order. Miss X would need to go to court to challenge the liability order that is in place.
14. The Council said it would not communicate further with Miss X via email about the Council Tax liability and liability order matters as it had addressed both and provided appropriate advice.
15. We will not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint. The Council did not block her email address and has not severed email contact with her about any other issues that may arise. There is therefore not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there are alternative remedies available which are reasonable for her to use. Also, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making about communication to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman