Council Tax payment Direct to Council but still using Enforcement Agents

[layperson]

Dear All,

As ever appreciate your time and advise so will keep brief to facts.

1) Liability Order granted and case passed to EAs.
2) Defendant then paid council tax direct to council via online payment system NOT to EAs.
3) Council accepted payments and showed reduced balance on each occasion.
4) Liability Order balance cleared within 4 weeks.
5) EA's requesting fees £300 for enforcement actions etc

What options does the defendant have?
Do the EA fees fall under the liability order?
Do the EAs have a right to any further enforcement action?
With the council accepting monies from the defendant, does that show the debt is still with the council?

Weird one but hope you can get your teeth into this one. I believe many people pay the council directly even though EA has started ie debt passed.

Thanks
Layperson.

[lgfa92]

It's not weird to councils, it's quite common.

In short, paying the council direct does not prevent the enforcement agents acting or their fees. In long it depends on what exactly was paid and when and what action the enforcement agents had taken at what date. The Enforcement Agent fees don't fall as part of the liability order however monies, if paid to the council, will be reported to the enforcement agent and they will update their records to note the payment.

The fact they're paying the council doesn't prevent this and at a specific point the monies paid must (as per legislation) be apportioned anyway between the fees and the council tax rather than just clearing one or the other. This means that there should be an amount of council tax still outstanding if they've done it properly.

If the council tax charge is cleared and any fees are left the enforcement agent can chase these with the debtor themselves.