The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Miss B complains the Council sent a Council Tax debt to its enforcement agents, despite not having contacted her about it for many years. It had not told her about the debt when she had earlier asked the Council about what she owed. The Ombudsman’s decision is that we should discontinue our investigation. This is because the Council has decided to write off the debt.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss B, complains: when she sold a flat, she asked the Council for details of the Council Tax debt she owed it. She paid the debts the Council told her about; the Council did not tell her about a debt from 2014. It later sent this debt to its enforcement agents, who then tried to enforce the debt.
Miss B says she now has no way of knowing whether she had already paid the 2014 debt. The contacts about this caused her stress and frustration.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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)
How I considered this complaint
The information I have seen includes the documents Miss B supplied with her complaint and the Council’s responses to the Ombudsman’s enquires I have also discussed the complaint with Miss B. I have sent my draft decision to Miss B and the Council and invited their comments.
What I found
Legal and administrative background Council Tax is a tax made on domestic properties. Councils issue one bill to each household. Residents of dwellings, including tenants, are usually liable for council tax from the date they moved into the property. If a private rented property is unoccupied, liability for council tax passes to the owner.
The main legislation concerned with the collection and recovery of Council Tax is the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (as amended). Recovery of Council Tax is through the Magistrates’ Court. The Court must grant a liability order if it believes that a sum has become payable and not been paid.
A liability order gives the Council legal powers to take enforcement action to collect the money owed, including instructing enforcement agents.
Section 9(2) of the Limitation Act 1980 says you cannot recover a debt more than six years from the date on which it was accrued. However, case law has said that once a court has granted a liability order, the statute of limitations does not apply and there is no time limit to taking action. So it is lawful to pursue old Council Tax debts when there is a liability order.
What happened Miss B owned a property in the Borough which she rented to tenants. In 2014 there was a short period, between tenants occupying the property, when Miss B was liable for the Council Tax.
The Council issued a final bill at the end of that period. It sent the bill to the property, as it had no other address for Miss B. Later in 2014, the Magistrates’ Court granted a liability order for this debt.
In the autumn of 2020, Miss B’s tenants moved out. Miss B was liable for the Council Tax on the property from then, until she sold it in June 2021.
After she had sold the property, Miss B says she asked the Council for a full Council Tax statement. She paid the two debts it told her about. So, she thought she had cleared her account. At this time, the Council asked Miss B for a forwarding address. Miss B did not respond. She says this was because she understood the sole reason the Council needed this was to send her a receipt.
The Council says Miss B had not cleared the debt from 2014. It had written to her in January 2021 about this, although Miss B says she did not receive this contact. In December 2021, the Council passed this debt to its enforcement agents.
In February 2022, the enforcement agents contacted Miss B. The agents had added their fees, which nearly doubled the amount Miss B owed. She complained to the Council about it contacting her for an old debt that it had not told her about in June 2021.
The Council’s complaints response said it had withdrawn the debt from its enforcement agents, as a gesture of goodwill. This removed the agents’ fees. It asked Miss B to pay the debt within a month.
Miss B did not pay, so the Council returned the debt to its agents. Miss B contacted the Council again, saying she had not received a response to her complaint. Miss B says she tried to email the Council’s enforcement team several times after, with no response. So she complained to the Ombudsman.
We made enquiries to the Council. Its response advised it had decided to write off the amount owed. This was “…due to the historic nature of the arrears on the account, and the lack of contact between 2014 and 2021 regarding the debt…”.
Final decision
I have discontinued my investigation. This is because the Council’s offer to write off the debt means there is unlikely to be enough remaining injustice to warrant the public expense of the Ombudsman’s further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman