If you do not pay your council tax, or pay late, you may be subject to recovery proceedings.

Council tax is a yearly charge.  Each year we will send you a bill that shows:

  • how much is due
  • the date the payments are due
  • the frequency of payments

You can change how and when you pay your bill. Council tax is a priority debt, below shows what will happen if you do not pay your council tax on time.

If you tell us of any changes to your council tax account we will send you an amended bill. Please make sure you refer to the most recent bill when making payments.

 

We will send you a reminder if you do not pay your council tax by the instalment date for the full amount

You have seven days to pay a reminder. You must also pay any other instalments that are due on your account/s within this time. Not just this one. All future payments must then be made by the due date.

If you do not bring your account up to date we will send you a final notice. We will cancel your instalments. The full amount will become due and payable.

 

Within the same billing year - If you bring the account up to date after a first reminder and are then late with another instalment, we will send you a second reminder.

You have seven days to pay a second reminder. You must also pay any instalments that are due on your account/s within this time. Not just this one. All future payments must then be made by the due date.

If you do not bring your account up to date we will send you a final notice. We will cancel your instalments. The full amount will become due and payable.

 

If you don't bring your account up to date as instructed in any reminder, your instalments will be cancelled, and we will send you a final notice.

You will no longer have the right to pay by instalments and the full balance is due and payable.

If you do not pay in full we will issue a court summons and court costs will be added.

 

If you fail to pay the full amount after the final notice you will receive a court summons.

We will add court costs to the outstanding debt. This is currently £60 at summons stage.

If you pay the summons in full including all costs, the account will not progress any further. A liability order will not be obtained.

 

If you do not pay the summons in full by the court date a liability order will be granted. This will add additional costs of £25 to the outstanding debt.

Once in court, the following questions cannot be considered:

  • whether the council was right to order you to pay council tax
  • whether you should pay the tax
  • whether the amount claimed is wrong
  • whether you should get council tax support
  • whether your council tax support has been worked out correctly.

 

Once a liability order has been granted we can use the following methods to recover the debt:

Contact Council Tax

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