Council Tax Enforcement Company

[Freedom2020]

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[ploddertom]

I have an outstanding council tax bill left of around £500 (It was larger but I have been paying it off) this was passed to an enforcement company last year on the 15^th July 2019. On that day I was immediately charged a compliance fee (Which I understand is correct) also on that day apparently I was served a Notice of Enforcement (I never saw such a notice), I was not charged an enforcement fee on that day.

This was your Notice of Enforcement and the letter should have been headed as such. Did this letter also give you a date & time by which to either pay or make contact to discuss it? Do you still have this letter?

You were charged the Compliance Fee at the time this was done - £75 - correct
As you had broken any payment terms etc a visit was correctly made on September 24 and charged the Enforcement Fee - £235 - correct
They do not have to give you any prior notice to making a visit providing the Notice of Enforcement was correctly sent

The good thing for you at present is they can make no further charges unless they can Take Control of Goods. I assume they have not had entry to your home and it would be a bad idea to invite them in. Make sure anything of value outside is locked away and if you have a motor vehicle then that is best in a locked garage or on a neighbours drive.

If you still having financial problems then I suggest you contact your local Councillor(s) - be honest with them and ask they try to get it back into Council control. www.writetothem.com

[Freedom2020]

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[ploddertom]

Thanks for the reply,

Ok so to clarify they are allowed to send a notice of enforcement on the day they get the case / debt ?
I was under the impression that you have a set time schedule eg

Day 1 Compliance
Day 7 Notice of enforcement
Day 14 take control of goods

Further to this how can they serve a noe before I have spoken to them and made a payment arrangement which was the case on the 15th July 2019.

Sending an noe on the same day as you get the case can't be correct

No idea where you are getting your info from but it is flawed.

Council obtains Liability Order - as no payment forthcoming they hand it over for Enforcement.

On receipt of instructions Enforcement Co are allowed to add Compliance Fee then send out a Notice of Enforcement which should state amongst others - to give you 7 clear days notice in which to pay in full or make contact to discuss - in reality this should be between 10 & 14 days to allow for postage and non-compliant days. The Notice should give the date & time whereby you should comply.

If after the expiry of this date you have not complied they are entitled to visit - without Notice - and charge the Enforcement Fee at the time of the visit. If goods are available then they are entitled to Take Control of them. You should also note that due to coronavirus visits were put on hold until September 24 when they recommenced.

[Freedom2020]

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