What happens when you don't pay your council tax?

If you fall behind with your council tax payments, we will send you a reminder notice. If you don't pay the amount you are asked to pay on the reminder notice within seven days we will cancel your right to pay by instalments. You will then have to pay the full amount of council tax you owe within another 7 days. If you do not pay the full amount we will send you a Magistrates' Court Summons, which adds more costs to the amount you already owe.

Please remember that we will only issue 2 reminder notices in any one financial year. If you fail to pay for a 3rd time, we will send you a final notice telling you have that you have lost your right to pay by instalments. A summons will then be issued even if you do contact us and make an arrangement to pay.

At the court hearing, we will apply for a Liability Order against you, which will allow the Council to take further action to collect the amount you owe. This might involve one or more of the following:

• We may send an Attachment of Earnings Order to your employer asking him to take money out of your wages and pay it directly to the Council.
• If you are receiving Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance, we may ask the Department of Work & Pensions to take money out of your benefits and pay the deduction to the Council.
• We may pass the Liability Order to the Council's Bailiff. The Bailiff will then be able to remove goods or furniture to the value of the debt for sale at public auction.
• If you don't make a suitable arrangement with the Bailiff and you don't have enough goods to clear what you owe, we may decide to make you bankrupt, or place a 'charging order' on your property, which allows us to collect the debt once you sell. We may even decide to ask the Magistrates to commit you to prison.