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If you are a journalist wanting to contact North Norfolk District Council for information or comment, please call Nick Manthorpe, Media Officer, on 01263 516059 or Peter Battrick, Communications Manager, on 01263 516344. You can also email media@north-norfolk.gov.uk

The team also produces the quarterly Outlook magazine for North Norfolk residents, as well as meeting the council's in-house design and branding business needs.

Bailiff visits for persistent debtors

05 February 2010

From Monday [8 February], bailiffs will be visiting hundreds of people who have deliberately not paid their council tax and business rates to North Norfolk District Council. They will take possession of goods and property, and debtors are urged to contact the bailiffs as quickly as possible to make arrangements to pay before they get a visit.

As many as 400 people are being targeted for owing North Norfolk District Council a total of £738,716 in council tax — money which would be used to fund local services — and have had at least four requests for payment before now. Around £294,000 of that is new debt accumulated in 2009/10. A further 50 business rates payers with a total debt value of £81,276 (£58,000 of it being new this financial year) can also expect a visit.

The bailiffs will start the crackdown on 8 February, and it will go on for two weeks or more. Those who have outstanding debts are urged to contact the bailiff straight away to agree how they will pay back their debt, and over what period of time (the bailiff may still need to visit their property, to inspect any assets that can be used as security against the debt). The bailiff will have written to debtors in the past, so they should have contact details.

If the debtors do not make arrangements to pay, their goods or property seized during the crackdown will be sold at auction to help pay off their debt.

Councillor Peter Moore, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “People who are having difficulties can get help, either from this Council or independently and confidentially from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. People in financial difficulty can always talk to the Council about benefits, discounts and exemptions to help with their council tax or business rates.”

Councillor Moore continued: “But it is everybody’s duty to pay these things, because they help cover the cost of local services for the whole community, and its most vulnerable people in particular. Of course times are hard right now, but if you don’t pay or choose not to, you are making it harder for everyone else, and that is simply not fair or right.”


Note for editor

  • For more information and interviews about the bailiff crackdown, please call Louise Wolsey, Revenues and Benefits Manager, on 01263 516081.

 

ENDS