Council Tax Enforcement Agents

[Sandybanks]

Hi all,
so here is a question relating to Enforcement Agents where local authorities change EAs. The scenario is this, the LA employs an EA initially to recover council tax. The EA is part successful and recovers some of the debt including the compliance fee and say part of the enforcement fee. Now the contract with the Local authority comes to an end and the case is returned part paid. The LA now decides to reissue the liability order to a new EA to try to collect the outstanding part of the debt.

My question is this, under the Taking Control of Goods Regs can the second EA charge a further set of compliance fees and enforcement fees? Reg 11(4)(a) suggests that only one fee may be collected. Anyone got any thoughts?

Many thanks

[ploddertom]

You cannot be charged again for the same debt. I assume you have some form of agreement to pay £xxx at specific times, only if you default on this may you then be liable for further fees if applicable. Have the previous company actually taken control of goods - if so what?

[Sandybanks]

Actually it is not me. I actually work for a local authority and am concerned that we are going to act ultra vires by recycling cases to a second enforcement agent but the boss won’t listen. So cases are being returned to us with fees having been paid, regardless of whether they have taken control of goods. Looking at the regs I just don’t think that raising a second set of fees is within the legislation

[ploddertom]

Most Councils operate with 2 or 3 different sets of Enforcement Co's and it is common for them to switch between them.

[lgfa92]

There's nothing which stops another enforcement agent being used against an outstanding council tax debt under TCE 2007 providing the first one has ceased (and thus a new instruction is sent to the next agent) - each time an agent is instructed new fees become due for the action they take. The fees for each agent are owed to that agent and independent to any other agent used.

There's nothing in council tax legislation itself either which prevents an enforcement agent being used more than once - if they don't have recoverable goods then sometimes it is best to bite the bullet and consider other options, whether that be payment arrangement, AOE/AOB, Charging Order, Bankruptcy or the ultimate sanction of a committal application, rather than recycling cases. I always found that recycling them, unless there an appreciable time gap, just got nowhere and created more work than it saved.