Late bill from council - do I have to pay?

[BillStickersIsInnocent]

We have longstanding issues with the council over our septic tank - essentially system isn't fit for purpose and we were charged thousands of pounds for maintenance. System has now been taken over by a water company and charges are reasonable, we have an agreement with the council to pay them an nominal amount each month until the balance is paid off. Thought this was all sorted (water company took over in May 2012 and all has been fine since)

Just got an invoice from the council for £500 for work carried out in the 1 month prior to water company taking over. 16 months ago.

Do we have the right not to pay as it's so late?

I will contest paying it anyway as we went through a very long winded process to agree a reasonable monthly repayment - £50 a month - so this amount is clearly unreasonable.

Any advice please? Thanks!

I thought an invoice had to be issued within 12 months, I could be wrong though! I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.

There legal arguments that you should be excused from paying but, to be honest, you knew this bill was comi eventually and, given its a council debt I would pay up unless you have been told that there was nothing to pay. If the council take you to court over it, I doubt a judge would be very sympathetic to your argument.

Unless there are expressly agreed terms between to parties about when something will be invoiced, there are no deadlines for the submission of an invoice.

Thanks for your replies.

Contesse- to clarify we thought we'd had the final bill last year once the water company had taken over - it's about £4000 for 5 years septic tank usage. We agreed the monthly amount after disclosing our finances to the council's solicitors.

This is a totally unexpected 'extra' bill. We thought everything was settled.