Bailiffs sent to Yorkshire man’s home after council failed to change address records

A debt enforcement agency visited the resident “several times” last year, causing him “stress” and “negatively affecting his health”, a report by the Local Government Ombudsman said. The local authority has apologised for the error. The report told how the man had moved house in 2020, but despite notifying the council of his new address, the local authority failed to update its records accordingly.

As a result it sent letters relating to arrears on the man’s account to his old address.

Referring to the man anonymously, the Ombudsman said: “The council concedes Mr X contacted it regarding the debt balance on the account several times over the years and it failed to correct this error.

“In 2022 the council referred the matter to an external enforcement agency, who visited Mr X on several occasions. After Mr X contacted the council, it cancelled the recovery action, updated its account with the correct details and awarded Mr X council tax support he was entitled to which reduced the arrears.”

The Ombudsman, whose report was triggered by the resident’s complaint, said the council was at fault for failing to update the address records, but ruled it was “entitled to start recovery action” as his account was in arrears.

It said it would not investigate the resident’s complaint any further as it would “be unlikely to provide a different outcome for him.”

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We have apologised for the error in not updating our records initially and as soon as we became aware of this error all enforcement action and associated costs were immediately cancelled. In addition, steps were taken to ensure that council tax support was backdated to the date they first became eligible. However as a council we remain committed to ensuring that everyone pays the council tax for which they are liable.”