Old Council Tax + Rent with court order

[BlossomingFlower]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice!

Ok, basically we have some outstanding council tax and rent that needs to be paid. This was a bill 2 years ago and we know that they have sent the ballifs to our old property which we left and most likely got evicted for not paying rent. Now at that time when the ballifs were sent, we were out of the country due to an unforeseen circumstance.

 

My question now is: i am not sure if there is a court order as we have been abroad since, have been trying to call yet to no avail, would i be able to bypass the court order and just go directly to the council and agree some sort of installment payment or must i go through court to settle the payment.

:???:

 

Oh and i am assuming with rent and council tax, the debt comes up to roughly 2000 pounds. I am also hearing that the Bailiffs add their own fee's to things, can i not pay that and just pay up at the council. Would they force the bill on us straight away and if unable to pay it, jail us? I know my mind is playing games but i need to make sure and plan ahead.

Any information would help as i need to come back asap yet worried what would happen at the other end.

Thanks!

[unclebulgaria67]

This is a bit tricky. If you contact the council, they will probably just tell you that bailiffs have a contract with them, give the bailiff your new address if you told them it and the bailiff would then want full payment or a walking possession order with repayment plan. Some of the councils tax collection depts are now run by Capita, who own two bailiff companies they use. Hence why is might be tricky, as there is a conflict of interest and any contact with the council may just end up with a bailiff visiting you in the near future.

 

I think if you are not currently being hassled, that you should start saving money to one side to pay this debt and then when you are contacted, you offer a lump sum of what you have saved and offer a repayment arrangement for the rest.