[Karen ODonnell]

Good afternoon

Just wondering if anyone out there is billing tenants via Debtors should they order a commercial waste bin/bins through Council, rather than adding the charges to the rates?

If yes, is there any problems managing or collecting the debt?

I note from the archives this topic was covered at the conference in 2013 and is on the USB. My memory isn’t helping if I was present or not.

kind regards
Karen

[Ian Clayton]

Hi Karen,

If the owner authorises adding additional service charges to the rates, and the collection is on the usual collection day, we add it to rate.

Otherwise, we bill the tennant through debtors. We bill these charges quarterly in advance, so the service can be cancelled if not paid. We also don’t refund part way through the quarter if the tennant cancels the service. We’ve found this reduces the amount of admin required, compared to billing in arrears for actual collections.

Regards,
Ian

[Emma Murphy]

Hi Karen,

Inverell issues invoices for commercial waste, via debtors. Yes, does have some issues in the past due to non payment, I am pretty sure though, if the invoice isn’t paid after 3-6months (service period would be the full financial year), we stop collecting their bins.
If unpaid for the next financial year, a service isn’t provided.

Biggest issue we have is the businesses that seem to ‘pop up’ and then close quickly. Also when businesses are sold, and the invoice is unpaid, this is a headache.

However overall – it works ok for us.

I cant imagine our Council ever wanting to issue the charge via rates though.

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