Council Tax

What happens if you don't pay

Remember that paying by Direct Debit ensures that your payments are made on time every month. For information on paying by Direct Debit click here.

If you do not pay an instalment within 14 days of the due date a reminder notice will be issued. Only two reminder notices can be issued in any one financial year, so if an instalment is missed for a third time you will be sent a 'final notice' for the full remaining amount due for the year.

If you do not pay, you lose your right to pay by instalments. You must then pay the full balance outstanding. If you do not pay, we send you a summons to appear in the Magistrates Court and charge you costs. Further non-payment will result in the issue of a summons with additional costs of at least £55.00.

If the court decides you are responsible for paying and you have not paid in full, they can issue a liability order. This means that we can collect the money by:

• Deductions from your Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or from your wages
• Asking our bailiffs to collect the debt. They can remove and sell some of your possessions and you have to pay their fees.
• Commencing insolvency proceedings such as bankruptcy through the County Court.
• Applying to the County Court for a charging order on your property that enables us to force its sale or repay your Council Tax out of the proceeds of any future sale. This will also result in you paying additional fees
• If you do not pay we can return to court. The court may decide to send you to prison, order you to pay with conditions, or tell us to write off part or all of the debt.