Sundry debts

If you owe the Council money for an account other than Council Tax or business rates, such as leases, rent, or overpayment of benefit, this is called a sundry debt.

Sundry debt invoices are raised if:

• the Council has provided you with a service for which there is a fee
• you have received an overpayment of Housing Benefit

You may have received an invoice in respect of a service you asked for. Examples of such invoices include:

• leases and ground rents - Property Services
• building control
• community alarms
• ship sanitation licenses
• dog warden fines
• GY Housing recharges
• reprographics
• tourism advertisements
• Housing benefit overpayments

The Council is required to make a charge for these services and this is done by issuing a sundry debtor invoice.

Your invoice will state the service you are being charged for. If however, you are unclear about the service, please feel free to contact us for clarification.

Your invoice will state the amounts payable for each service, and will show the total amount payable. Invoices are payable in full upon receipt. For details on how to make a payment, please see the payment options information on the reverse of your invoice.

If the invoice reference number starts with a 22 or 33, you can use our OPENPortal facility to view your account. For any other invoice reference type, you will not be able to view it via this facility.

Yes, if you are a resident and have registered for OPENPortal.

Sign in to OPENPortal (opens new window) to view your Council Tax, Business Rates and Benefits accounts and amend your Direct Debit payments.

Non-residents (or customers that only have a Sundry Debt account with the Council) should register to view their Sundry Debt account.

You can pay in a number of ways:

• If you wish to pay property rents or Community Alarms by Direct Debit please contact 01493 846519
• Visit our Pay Online page and select 'General Invoices'
• Call our Touch Tone payment line on 01493 846117 and select General Invoices
• By direct payment to the Council's bank account, sort code 20-99-47, account number 13775518; please quote your invoice number as the reference number when making payment by this method.

If paying by BACS, please email your remittance to sundrydebts@great-yarmouth.gov.uk

If you have a query on your invoice, or feel that it is incorrect in some way, get in touch with us straight away.

Recovery action in respect of unpaid invoices is described in our  Sundry Income and Debt Guidelines (PDF) [131KB] (opens new window) , and will continue until your payment is received.

If you think you are going to have a problem paying the account, it is important that you contact the Council as soon as possible to avoid debt recovery action.