Summary: Mr X complains the Council has not dealt properly with his Council Tax charges. The Council is at fault because it has failed to collect his Council Tax properly and has sent him incorrect demands for payment resulting in enforcement action being taken. Mr X suffered avoidable distress and had to unnecessarily had to spend time addressing multiple errors. The Council has apologised and offered to pay Mr X £200. The Council has agreed to apologise for further errors, pay Mr X a further £200 for additional avoidable distress and £100 for his time and trouble, make an application to Court to set aside a liability order and review its systems/processes.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about council tax because we cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action and the issues have been part of the legal proceedings in the same matter.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a council tax court summons. This is because we cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not treating Mr X’s property as uninhabitable. The Valuation Office Agency, not the Council, is responsible for decisions about whether a property’s council tax band should be deleted. The matter Mr X complained about is not an administrative function of the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to recoup a Council Tax repayment from Mrs X. This is because she has right of appeal to the valuation office agency.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s Council Tax payments. This is because there is no evidence to suggest fault by the Council.

Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her council tax account. We found no fault on the Council’s part.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a dispute over Council tax and business rate liability as they are matters for the Valuation Tribunal and the courts.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council sending incorrect Council Tax bills to Mr X. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault or of injustice to warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about liability for Council tax because there is a right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal and the matter has been remedied.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a council tax court summons. This is because we cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council enforcement of a Council tax debt as there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council taking recovery action for unpaid business rates owing from 2011. The debt was subject to a liability order obtained in the courts and we have no authority to investigate matters subject to court proceedings.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council recovering unpaid Council tax from 2016-2022. We cannot investigate matters which have been subject to court proceedings and liability orders have been issued by a court in this case. It was reasonable for Mrs X to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal to challenge her council tax liability.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to apply interest to Ms X’s council tax refund. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council holding Ms X liable for council tax arrears. It is reasonable for Ms X to use her statutory right of appeal to an independent adjudicator.

Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council managed her housing benefit and council tax after she moved out of the Council’s area. There was fault in how the Council paid Miss X a housing transition payment and claimed she still owed council tax from 2017. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration and upset for which the Council agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy. The Council also agreed to stop any further automated correspondence being sent to Miss X.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the amount of compensation offered to Mrs X by the Council following fault in its handling of her Council Tax account. This is because an investigation will not usefully add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or lead to a significantly different outcome.

Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council placing the complainant on the Local Housing Allowance system of benefits payment in 2005. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an energy rebate scheme because we could not add to the previous investigation by the Council and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.