Missed a council payment for £69, sent a letter for £1700

gforgosu

Hi all

I missed a council payment on my old property for £69.

4 weeks later I got a further charge for £69 for missing the payment

I called the council and explained the reason I missed the first letter, they said okay and cancelled the charge, I paid £69

24 hours later i recieve an email from the council advising me that the charge was incorrectly removed and i should call to pay it

I replied to this disputing their reasoning

14 days later, with no response from the council, i get a baliff's letter for £1700... thats right... £1700

How do you suggest i go about challenging this?

National_Debtline

Hi

It sounds like the council may have called in the whole years bill, although you should have been sent a final notice to warn you that you’ve lost your right to pay by instalments if that is the case.

To complain you would initially use their own internal complaints process to make a written complaint, and if you need to take it further you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) www.lgo.org.uk

James
@natdebtline

19lottie82

Visit your local council tax office to get this sorted out?

gforgosu

Hi Both

I no longer own the property in question I have actually moved out

I believe the baliff have added on huge exorbitant charges from their end.

Rotten to the core. I promise you good folk i shall die before I give in to this bullying

19lottie82

gforgosu wrote: »

I promise you good folk i shall die before I give in to this bullying

Might be easier just to pop in to the office and get it sorted, as suggested?

CIS

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi

It sounds like the council may have called in the whole years bill, although you should have been sent a final notice to warn you that you’ve lost your right to pay by instalments if that is the case.

To complain you would initially use their own internal complaints process to make a written complaint, and if you need to take it further you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) www.lgo.org.uk

James
@natdebtline

A final notice isn't needed if they've failed to pay off the back on a reminder notice (the final notice is only needed either as a final notice after two previous reminder notices or as a notice for the missed payment on a closed account).

fatbelly

So there was already a magistrates court liability order on this?

Ask the council for a breakdown of the balance. The bailiff fees should be £75 and £235, depending at what stage this is.