Hi there, Pre 2009 means exactly what it says- the council tax debt is before 2009- you said you sold the house in 2008, so stands to reason that the debt outstding is pre/before 2009. Your council has discovered unpaid council tax for you at a former property- they are not legally obligated to send out a reminder- instead they went to the local sheriff court and had a summary warrant raised against your wife and then passed to the sheriff officers (scott and co) None payment of council tax is a none defendable offense so you would not be entitled to appear in court- Scott and Co will now activley pursue for the debt- including sending a Sheriff officer to your property- or arresting your bank or wages- these things do happen- however they will be quite happy to set a payplan with you if your willing- disputes must go direct to your council but keep in touch with scott and co at all times

Wow I really hope people don't listen to you extremly bad advise to much- look up Scott and Co- their full title is "Scott and Co Sheriff Officers, Messengers at arms" your first clue is in the title "sheriff officers" the council go to court raise a summary warrant on ever single council tax debt they pass to scott and co- the council alsoapply the 10% fee- also running back to the cncl to make pymnts does NOT resolve the matter- the cncl pass the money to scott and co and the council still instruct them to pursue- which is why bank and wage arrestments are carried out on people- so ignoring them is not the way to go- 9 out of 10 times when the council make a direct agreement with you they DO NOT inform scott and co

The 10% charge is applied by the council themsleves not the Sheriff officers... going back to the council and believeing them when they say no its ok pay to us is wrong- because the council raise a summary warrant before passing to the sheriff officers and the councils 10% fee becomes part of the liable debt- so the council may be telling you its ok to pay to them but believe me- they are syill instructing the Sheriff officer to pursue...