The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr B complains the Council has not dealt properly with collection of Council Tax for a property he owns. The Council took unnecessary enforcement action. Mr B was charged additional fees. The Council has agreed to repay Mr B £310.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complains the Council has not dealt properly with his Council Tax because: It wrongly took enforcement action following a payment it says was delayed; and It has escalated enforcement action and is continuing to charge him an additional enforcement fee after his debt had been paid in full.
Mr B says he should not be charged the additional enforcement fee.
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 must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I spoke to Mr B about his complaint and considered documents he provided. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response and the supporting documents it provided.
Mr B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
What happened?
This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
Mr B became liable for an amount of Council tax for a property he owns. He agreed to repay this to the Council over a period of months.
The Council considered his first payment was late and began enforcement action against Mr B, which resulted in him being charged fees of £75 and subsequently £235.
Mr B completed his repayment of the entire sum by the agreed date.
Mr B challenged the initial compliance fee. The Council applied the second fee before it had advised him of the outcome to his challenge regarding the initial fee.
Analysis The Council agrees that enforcement action and fees cannot be appealed with the Valuation Tribunal and Mr B’s recourse should have been through the complaints process, and not to submit an appeal.
During the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Council agreed that it will refund all enforcement fees, totalling £310, to Mr B because: the email the Council sent to him, in response to his challenge about the initial fee, contained inaccurate information about what he should do; and it was reasonable for him to assume that his debt would not increase when he had already challenged the £75 compliance fee and had not yet been notified of the outcome.
This is an appropriate remedy.
Final decision
I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Mr B. The Council has agreed to provide an appropriate remedy. I have now completed my investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman