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Non-payment of Council Tax

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Non-payment of Council Tax

We are legally obliged to demand and collect Council Tax. Those who are liable to pay it must do so.

If you find it hard to pay your Council Tax bill, contact us straight away. Do not wait to receive a reminder letter or a summons.

Visit our get help to pay Council Tax if you need support.

Reminder notice

When we send you your Council Tax bill, we tell you how much you have to pay and when. 

If you do not pay as requested, we will send you a reminder notice.

You may also receive a reminder notice if your regular payments are later than the dates shown on your Council Tax bill. 

You may lose your right to pay by instalments because your payments are late.

Final notice

If we send you a reminder notice and you do not bring your payments up to date, then you will receive a final notice.  The final notice means that you have lost your right to pay by instalments and the full balance will need to be paid.

Summons

If you have received a final notice and you have not paid your Council Tax bill or contacted us to make a payment arrangement, then court summons for non-payment will be issued.

Costs of £92.50 will be applied for to cover the costs of the summons and court proceedings.

Once a summons is issued, we will apply to the magistrates court for a liability order. If granted, this will give us powers to recover the full amount of Council Tax including costs, unless the amount is paid in full before the court hearing date.

If you have received a summons and think you should not have to pay Council Tax or believe your bill is wrong, contact us straight away using our online form. 

Court hearing

At a court hearing we will apply for a liability order to allow us to take further steps to recover the amount you owe. This will include the costs of £92.50 that were applied when we issued the summons.

Court hearings are now conducted remotely by audio link. There is no requirement for you to attend the court hearing. If you do not attend, the hearing will go ahead without you.

If you wish to attend the hearing by telephone, you must contact us to undertake a pre-hearing assessment of your case.

Should you still wish your case to be heard, you will then be contacted by the court on the telephone number that you provide at the pre-hearing assessment to have your case heard. Make contact as soon as possible, no later than 11am on the day before the hearing.

Defences in court

On the day of the hearing, the magistrates will ask if you have a valid defence which will stop a liability order being granted.

The defences that the magistrates will take into account are:

  • You have paid the Council Tax in full.
  • The amount has not been legally demanded because a legal condition has not been met.

This means we have not done one or more of the following:

  • Passed a resolution setting the tax that has been published.
  • Sent a bill to you, giving you 14 days before you have to pay.
  • Sent either a reminder and/or final notice giving you seven days to make payment.
  • Sent the summons at least seven days after the full balance had to be paid.

We only have to prove that notices were sent to you. We do not have to prove that you received them.

The following are not valid defences:

  • You cannot afford to pay.
  • You have applied for Council Tax Support, discount, exemption or other reduction.
  • You have an outstanding appeal with the valuation tribunal.

If you do not have a valid defence, the magistrates will grant a liability order.

Liability order

A liability order allows us to take any of the following actions if you do not pay your Council Tax. We can:

  • demand information about your job or benefits
  • take money from your wages (Employer's Guide to Attachment of Earnings)
  • take money from your Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Universal Credit or Pension Credit
  • take money from your allowance if you are an elected member of a public authority
  • use enforcement agents to take your goods to sell, to cover the amount you owe
  • ask for a 'charging order' to be made against your property
  • make you bankrupt, or put a company into liquidation
  • apply for you to be sent to prison

If you have received a liability order from us, use the online form below to provide us with information.Recovery Income and Expenditure form

This will help us assess the best way to help you clear the amount you owe. Only complete this if you have been issued with a liability order as a result of your Council Tax debt being presented at court.