Summary: Mr G complains about the Council’s enforcement action for council tax arrears. And for fees enforcement agents have charged him and accusations an agent made about him. The Ombudsman’s decision is there was no fault by the Council or its enforcement agents.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr G, complains about council tax billing and enforcement. He complains that:
   • He did not receive bills and reminder letters. A Council officer has told him bills and letters were redirected back to the Council.
   • He made an arrangement to pay the debts with the Council. But after this, enforcement agents contacted him.
   • The charges kept changing and going up.
   • The enforcement agents said he was abusive. He disagrees and says it is Council officers and enforcement agents who have not shown him respect.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’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

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
   • considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr G;
   • made enquiries of the Council and considered its response;
   • spoken to Mr G;
   • written to Mr G and the Council with my draft decision and given them an opportunity to comment.

What I found Legal and administrative background

5. 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. It is the responsibility of council tax-payers to pay their council tax.
6. The law says that council tax services can serve a document about billing or enforcement on a person by delivering it to them, leaving it at their proper address, or sending it by post to their proper address. Proper address is taken to be the last known address. There is no need to use registered or recorded post. Unless the contrary is proved, a document is deemed to have been served by post when it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. (Local Government Act 1972 (Section 233); Regulation 35(2) of The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992; The Interpretation Act 1978 (Section 7))
7. Where a sum of council tax is unpaid, a council may seek an order from the magistrates’ court known as a liability order. This confirms the amount owed and who is liable to pay it. When a liability order has been made, a council has several options available to pursue the debt. One option is to instruct enforcement agents (bailiffs). (Regulation 45 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992)
8. Agents can charge fees and costs for council tax debt recovery. The fees are set in law at £75 for the “compliance stage” and £235 for the “enforcement stage”.

What happened

9. Mr G moved into his flat in January 2018. He did not tell the Council Tax Department. So it was not aware of his liability until Mr G’s landlords told it at the beginning of June. As this was after the start of the new tax year on 1 April, that meant Mr G owed council tax for both the 2017 and 2018 tax years. The Council sent bills.

The 2017 account

10. Mr G did not respond to the bill or later notices. So on 1 August 2018 the Council served Mr G a summons. This added costs to Mr G’s account.
11. A few days later Mr G paid the original council tax bill, but not the costs. The Council continued recovery action for those costs and a magistrate granted it a liability order.
12. At the end of August the Council passed this account to its enforcement agents. They added a £75 compliance fee and wrote to Mr G.
13. On 17 September an enforcement agent visited Mr G, who was not in. The agents added an enforcement fee to Mr G’s account and left him a notice.
14. Mr G telephoned the agent later on 17 September. Mr G says during this call the agent did not show him respect. The agent made a note that Mr G made threats of violence towards him. Mr G disputes this.

The 2018 account

15. Mr G did not respond to the bill or later notices. So on 31 August 2018 the Council served Mr G a summons. This added costs to Mr G’s account.
16. On 18 September a magistrate granted a liability order.

Mr G’s complaint and later action

17. Mr G complained about the Council’s enforcement action. It responded at the first stage of its procedure on 17 October. It advised him to contact the enforcement agents for the 2017 account. For the 2018 account, it attached a special arrangement letter, detailing a repayment plan to clear the £1522.89 he owed by the end of the financial year.
18. The Council later clarified to Mr G that it would not waive its costs, as there was no error in the way it had enforced the debts.
19. Mr G contacted the Council advising he could not afford its arrangement for the 2018 debt. It sent him an income and expenditure form to complete. The Council reminded Mr G in early November the arrangement was for the 2018 debt. He needed to discuss the 2017 debt with the enforcement agents.
20. Mr G complained to the Ombudsman. I made enquiries. The Council’s response provided the details of enforcement action on the account and its enforcement agents’ records. It advised that it had no records of any documents being returned to it as undelivered, or a record of one of its officers advising Mr G this was the case.

Was there fault by the Council?

21. The requirements of council tax billing and enforcement are a matter of national legislation, subject to the views of parliament. National law also sets out the charges enforcement agents can make. Here I can see the Council and its agents have followed those national rules and billed Mr G correctly. I know Mr G strongly disagrees with having to pay the extra charges. But as these are a matter of national law, and, as the Council has applied them correctly, the Ombudsman cannot question them.
22. Regarding the way an enforcement agent dealt with Mr G’s calls, I note the agent made a contemporaneous note of his version of what happened during the call. There is clearly a disagreement about what was said and the attitude of the agent during the conversation. But there is not enough evidence for me to investigate this further, as there is no recording of the calls.