Donegal County Council is beginning legal action to secure payment of outstanding development contributions.
The council says its legal team will pursue developers and members of the public who haven’t paid.
The Council has set up a dedicated unit to deal with cases where payments are still outstanding.
The full council statement reads as follows –
Donegal County Council would like to remind members of the public and developers who have carried out development on foot of a grant of planning permission, that development contributions conditioned in their planning permission, which have not yet been paid, are now being pursued by the Councils Development Charges Legal Proceedings Unit.
The Council has set up a dedicated Development Charges-Legal Proceedings Unit to deal with cases where payments are still outstanding and are advising members of the public including developers that arrangements to pay outstanding contributions must be made immediately (where agreements are not currently in place), in order to avoid further interest being incurred on the outstanding balances and legal action being initiated against debtors.
Failure to pay outstanding contributions will result in the matter being pursued by the Council’s legal office to recover outstanding charges as a simple contract debt in the relevant Courts.
In such cases the Council’s legal office will seek a Court Order against outstanding debtors, including any legal costs that will be incurred and pursue all avenues open to ensure the prompt collection of the principal amount, including interest.
These actions may involve –
- referring the outstanding debt to the Sheriffs Office to collect all amounts due and to seize, in default, appropriate goods to satisfy the amounts owing and/or
- the making of an application to the District Court for an instalment Order which may require the debtors attendance in court to be cross-examined to disclose financial means, before the Court decides on the level of the instalment order and/or
- the registration of the judgement in Court which will lead to publication of debtors names and addresses in Stubbs Gazette and/or
- the registration of a judgement as a mortgage against property of the debtor.
To avoid the above imminent legal action and the associated claims for interest, penalties and legal costs, members of the public and developers should contact the Council’s Development Charges-Legal Proceedings Unit immediately on 074 9172307, Monday to Friday 9.00 – 12.30 & 1.00 – 4.30pm.
