Summary: Ms X complains about the Council’s decision to instruct bailiffs to recover a council tax debt. This meant Ms X had to pay bailiff fees on top of the council tax debt. From the evidence available, the Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision to instruct bailiffs to recover a council tax debt. She says the debt was for a small amount and resulted in her having to pay bailiff fees on top of the debt. Ms X also says she double paid part of the debt.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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 this investigation:
   • I considered the complaint made by Ms X and the Council’s response.
   • I considered the Council’s response to my enquiries.
   • I sent a draft of this decision to Ms X and the Council and considered their comments.

What I found

5. The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 cover both the way councils collect payments of council tax and the way councils can recover council tax debt. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and associated regulations cover the way bailiffs may recover debts.
6. The council tax bill for the year is due on the 1st April. The Council will usually collect payment through ten monthly instalments. If any instalment is missed the Council will send the resident a reminder. If a payment is still not made or a further payment missed, then the entire outstanding balance will be due (that is the full amount for the rest of the year).
7. To use the various powers available to it to recover unpaid council tax, the Council has to apply to the Magistrates Court for a liability order against the person or persons it believes should have paid the bill.
8. Once the Council has obtained a Liability Order it can begin legal recovery action. A liability order obtained through a Magistrates Court is not the same as a County Court judgement and so is unlikely to affect a person’s credit rating score.
9. Recovery action can take many different forms. The Council may instruct bailiffs to recover the debt by arranging payments or goods can be removed and sold to pay off the debt. In rare cases where someone has ‘wilfully refused’ to pay their council tax bill the Council can apply to have someone committed to prison.
10. Councils will often use bailiffs to recover debt. The law sets out the fees a bailiff can charge when recovering debt and the three stages they must follow:
    • The Compliance Stage – a bailiff must issue a notice of enforcement seven clear days before they take control of the goods. The fee for this stage is £75.
    • The Enforcement Stage – this stage starts once a bailiff has made a first visit. At this visit they can take control of the goods. Once they have secured goods they must give the debtor a notice. The fee for this stage is £235.
    • The Sale or Disposal Stage – this stage starts once a bailiff has taken control of the goods. They must then allow seven clear days between the removal of goods and their sale. In this time a bailiff must value the goods and send a copy to the debtor. The fee for this stage is £110.
11. The government has published guidance entitled ‘Guidance to local councils on good practice in the collection of council tax arrears’. The guidance says councils must ensure bailiffs provide clear and accurate information about costs to the bill payer, including a breakdown of costs, outlining how much has been charged for bailiff action.

Background

12. Ms X owns property A which she rents to tenants. The tenants are liable for council tax at property A during the tenancy. On 22 September 2018 Ms X’s tenant moved out of property A. The Council opened a new account and sent a council tax bill to Ms X at property B. This was the Council’s last known address for Ms X.
13. The Council did not receive any payments for the first instalment of council tax from Ms X. In late October 2018 the Council sent Ms X a reminder letter to property B. The letter warned if Ms X did not pay the outstanding instalment the full amount of council tax would become due.
14. The Council received no correspondence from Ms X so in November 2018 it wrote to Ms X at property B with a court summons. The court summons ordered Ms X to appear at the Magistrates Court in December 2018. The letter told Ms X she needed to pay the full amount before the court date to stop the Council applying for a liability order.
15. The Council received no payment or correspondence from Ms X and in December 2018 the Magistrates Court issued a liability order for the debt. The Council sent a letter in December 2018 to Ms X saying it will pass the debt to bailiffs if she does not pay. The letter gave Ms X details of the associated bailiff costs if this were to happen. The Council sent a final reminder to Ms X in January 2019 saying it will pass the account to its bailiffs if she does not pay.
16. As the Council did not receive any payment or correspondence from Ms X it passed the case to its bailiffs on 4 February 2019. The bailiff sent Ms X a notice of enforcement. Shortly after, the new tenant at property A contacted the Council to say they had been living at property A since 28 September 2018. The Council sent a new bill to Ms X which told her of the outstanding amount of £102.39. This included £79.50 court costs. The bill told Ms X the Council had started recovery proceedings for this debt.
17. The Council’s bailiff visited property B in March 2019 and discovered it was unoccupied. At this stage the bailiff added an enforcement fee of £235 to the debt. The bailiff carried out a trace on Ms X and found property C was an address linked to her. The bailiff removed the enforcement fee of £235 and moved the case back to the compliance stage and sent a new notice of enforcement to Ms X at property C. The bailiff sent three letters to property C telling Ms X of the outstanding debt.
18. At the beginning of May 2019, the bailiff visited property C and added an enforcement fee of £235 to the debt. This brought the total amount up to £412.39. The occupier at property C told the bailiff Ms X lived abroad.
19. On 9 May Ms X’s representative, Ms Y telephoned the Council. The Council would not discuss the council tax account with Ms Y as it did not have authority from Ms X to do so. After obtaining authority, Ms Y contacted the Council on 14 May 2019 and paid £102.39. The telephone note shows Ms Y told the Council she was disputing the added costs to the debt.
20. After the bailiff contacted Ms X, she paid the outstanding debt of £412.39 on 15 May 2019. Shortly after Ms X made a formal complaint to the Council asking the Council to reimburse her for the enforcement costs. Ms X said the Council failed to deal with the matter properly and should not have passed the debt to its bailiffs.
21. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint and said it sent all the correct notices to property B as this was the address it had on its system for Ms X. It initially issued a debt for a larger amount to the bailiffs and reduced this after receiving notice from Ms X’s tenant as to when she moved into property A. The Council said it acted correctly based on the information it held on file and would not refund the fees incurred. The Council invited Ms X to provide evidence she told it about the changes on her account and contact details and it would consider refunding the fees.
22. Ms X asked the Council to escalate her complaint the next stage and raised the following:
    • Why it took until May 2019 to tell Ms Y the Council would not deal with her?
    • Why there are no records of Ms Y’s requests for the council tax bill?
    • Why did the bailiffs and not the Council had the address at property C?
    • Why the Council would not listen to the bailiffs?
    • Why there was no mention of double payment from Ms X and Ms Y?
23. The Council responded to say it sent all correspondence to property B as this was the address it had on file. It did not have an address for Ms Y and the first contact from Ms Y was on 9 May 2019. The Council has no other records of contact from Ms Y. The Council confirmed the bailiff obtained the address for property C after carrying out a trace on Ms X. The Council concluded it dealt with the matter correctly and it could have avoided recovery action had Ms X provided the correct contact details.
24. The Council refunded Ms X £102.39 on 11 June 2019 as both Ms X and Ms Y paid this part of the debt.

Analysis

25. Ms X says the Council should not have passed her debt onto its bailiffs. The Council says it did not have Ms X’s correct address therefore sent all correspondence regarding the debt to property B.
26. I cannot see any evidence Ms X or Ms Y told the Council about her change of details. I have also given Ms X and Ms Y the opportunity to provide such evidence. It was reasonable for the Council write to property B as it was the last address it had for Ms X. The Council confirmed in response to my enquiries that no letters it sent to property B were returned. The Council’s case notes show no record of any contact from Ms X after her tenant moved out in September 2018 and the earliest contact by Ms Y was in May 2019.
27. I have not found fault with the Council. It is Ms X’s responsibility to update the Council should her contact details change. The Council did not receive any correspondence or payment from Ms X after issuing the council tax bill, reminders and court summons. It was therefore entitled to apply for a liability order and once granted, pass the case to its bailiffs to recover the debt.
28. I am also satisfied the bailiff added the fees correctly to the debt. Once the bailiff received the case it sent out a notice of enforcement to Ms X. After visiting the property and becoming aware it was unoccupied the bailiff carried out a trace on Ms X and found the address at property C.
29. The bailiff removed the enforcement fee which had been added to the debt and sent out a new notice of enforcement to property C, giving Ms X the opportunity to pay the debt. The notice of enforcement stated the further charges the bailiff can apply in the event of non-payment. After sending three letters to property C chasing payment, the bailiff visited property C and added the £235 enforcement fee.
30. Ms X says she paid off the debt however, Ms Y made a payment and as a result she double paid. While the Council provided confirmation it did receive two payments, it has refunded Ms X £102.39

Final decision

31. I have completed my investigation and found no fault by the Council in how it sought to recover Ms X’s council tax debt.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman