Council tax and councillor?

Question

when writing a letter to council to offer repayment of council tax arrears i was advised to send copy to my local councillor as it would back up the letter more.

is this the case or does it not matter whether i put his name on my letter?

also im enclosing a cheque as a first monthly payment with my offer letter giving them the option of standing order if they prefer? and sending by recorded delivery

do you think £75 per month sounds a decent repayment?

im hoping they will accept.

thks

thks

Answer 1

Yes CC the Councillor, it does help to have them involved. Despite what Housing Benefit/Council Tax processors say, senior managers run scared of local councillor involvement. Not wanting to get too political but the last thing managers of housing/council tax benefit want is councillors looking to closely at their procedures, it is unfortunate that most people do not write to them as if the did perhaps most council tax sections would stop failing their BFI reports.

75 pounds should be acceptable if you can afford this level of repayment, althogh the council would LIKE, the bill paid in full within a financial year if you can't manage that then they have no options really but to wait.

Answer 2

Generally speaking when we receive a letter copying a councillor in it doesn't make much difference - the councillor's have only limited influence on recovery action  otherwise everyone would write to them.

If the £1300 cover the current years charge + arrears then £75 wouldn't even clear a current year charge on your current property therefore your unlikely to get it accepted . You would need to make an offer generally of at least whatever your current years payments would have been + extra.

At £75 p/m, you would get a maximum of 9 monthly payments in this year which would leave £550 to go on next year on top of your monthly bill - could you afford it ? . It's best to pay as much as possible now.

If you can get a firm arrangement on your current property then they may hold recovery on the other property for the time being.  In any case you need to speak to them ASAP.

Answer 3

I have some doubt that the councillors invlovement will help that much.  Its impossible to say whether £75 per month is sufficient, as you do not state the amount of arrears or the bill for the current year.

As a rule the Council  will seek to have the debt repaid in full by March 2009.  If you can give further information may be able to help further