Titre de perception - anyone know what this is please?

[Hereford]

We have been sent (by a holiday home owner in our village who lives in the UK) a copy of a bill he has received which says "Objet de la créance - Titre de perception".  The copy he has scanned to us is a "relance" and has 10% added on as he has not paid it.  The property is not yet habitable so we suspect it might be to do with planning permissions.

Naturally he wants to know what this bill is for as the amount is 940 euros!   Anyone out there know please?

Any help gratefully received.

Many thanks

H.

Edit: just googled it and it looks as though the term just is just a method of collecting the money! I will get back to the person who sent it to see if he has an earlier bill.

[minnie]

If its any help I have found the exact same question on another forum and have pasted the reply below.

" It's saying that you are marked in their books as a creditor which means that you have a debt to pay. In other words you owe them money for town planning and looking after things like roads etc.

Sometimes the sum owed is split into 2 payments (échéancier des versements a effectuer) and you are given a date by which things must be paid. It is unlikely that they will send out any reminders, it will be up to you to pay on time"

Hope this helps in the bsence of other replies

[Quillan]

Beat me to it, it's debt being collected by the state on behalf of another party. The other party could be a tax of some form, water bill or whatever but at the end of the day it is an unpaid bill of some form or another. It should say on the actual letter what it is for. You can Google "Objet de lacréance - Titre de perception" and there is loads of stuff although the one I would believe the most is on Legifrance.

[Hereford]

Thanks for replies - we are pretty sure now that it relates to the new tax on renovating or building. He is adamant he has had no bills but we think they may have gone to the property rather than his Uk address. We are going to look in his letterbox tomorrow.

It would have been easier if this "notice de relance" had said what debt it related to !!

[NormanH]

Sometimes there is an almost hidden reference if you can manage to decypher it.

I had something rather similar though for a much lower sum which was in fact  a water bill and the  clue was the initials SMDEA in a reference.

The SMDEA is the body who is responsible for water in the Ariège who often 'forget' to bill their customers and then use the Trésor Public to 'rélance' an unsent bill..[:-))]

Have a close look at the document to see if there is a possible reference to another organisation hidden in there

[Hereford]

Thanks Norman - will do.

[Chancer]

Communication skills have to be right down with common sense and understanding/empathy in the order of importance to French businesses.

And yet when you look at the sucessfull companies they are the top priorities.

Having been faced with these demands myself I was shocked to find that even the educated and Professional French freaked out and said "doesnt matter whether you know who its from, if they say you owe it you must pay it or you could end up in prison"

This country is a paradise for scammers.

[Hereford]

Found original bill in the letterbox - not a surprise.  It has almost disintegrated from rain and damp but enough is readable without disturbing the wodge of paper to see what it is - taxe d'émanagement.

Once it is dry and we have got rid of the little snails we can prise more apart and scan it.  As you say Chancer - why was the original bill not sent to somewhere other than an empty uninhabitable house.  We had experience of this ourselves when my parents were building a house.  EDF sent a notice, about connecting the electricity, to a field. Luckily we have a sensible post lady and she recognised the name and delivered it to us in the next village (probably illegally).

Mrs H

[Chancer]

[quote user="Hereford"]  As you say Chancer - why was the original bill not sent to somewhere other than an empty uninhabitable house.  
[/quote]

That would require common sense and initiative and I know better than to expect that, the real gripe is the percepteur or whoever it is chasing the debt that does not give you the information of what the alleged debt refers to.

Like i say, in my experience most French just panic and pay it anyway, they have been conditioned to do so, just look at the way speed camera fines are administered, first you have to pay before then proving to them, it wasnt you, wasnt your car, you are only 18 months old, dont have a drivers license or a car, etc etc etc.

The words have always stuck with me because they were said with such belief, conviction and concern for me, not from an idiot but a well educated Professional "if they say you owe the money then you must pay it!"

In fact everyone said the same except the secretary of my huissier friend who said "ignore it, its nothing but worthless hollow threats"

[Quillan]

[quote user="Chancer"]

In fact everyone said the same except the secretary of my huissier friend who said "ignore it, its nothing but worthless hollow threats"

[/quote]

Many years ago my mates said the same about a my first ever parking ticket. Three months later I got a call from my dad at 06:00 in the morning to say there was a balif at the door demanding a shed load of money what with the fine rising to three times the original for not paying plus their fee. I have found that if anyone is going to be chased it will be me so I pay as quick as possible.