council tax issue, please advise

[jayp0st]

hello, today i received a letter from Waltham Forest council demanding full payment of 971.16 for unpaid council tax. This was for an address i lived at over 4 years ago. I am willing to write back asking to set up repayments etc but the concern i have is that the letter states they had been trying to contact me and liability orders had been returned as baliffs were unable to gain access to the property. The letter gives no breakdown as to why the amount is 971.16, this is the first letter i have received regarding this unpaid amount since a phone call in 2003 in which i requested a discount and new breakdown as the only person in the property. I have been at my present address since 2005 under a different council and have not been contacted by WF council. am i compelled to complete the income info form or can i supply my own financial report with a repayment offer. Also the letter i receieved was unsigned which i found strange.

please can anyone advise me?
Appreciated

[Jemms00]

Hi, all you need to do is call the Council. Most have call centres where a customer service officer will be able to look at your account. It is possible for you to set up some form of settlement of paying it back, it depends who you speak to. If you don't get anywhere by speaking to someone I would put it in a letter, what happened and then propose on a reasonable way of paying the money back. No doubt court costs have been added to the final bill, you can try ask for these to be removed but it maybe unlikely that this will be done. Good luck.