Council Tax Recovery Action

REMINDERS & FINAL NOTICES

When an instalment is missed the Council will write to you (in the form of a ‘reminder notice’), and ask you to pay the overdue amount. The reminder notice is just what the name suggests – a letter to remind you to bring your account up to date. The wording may seem a little harsh and official, and will mention what could happen if you don’t pay the arrears (that information is a legal requirement), but if you pay the missing instalment(s) then no other action is necessary.

There is a twist to the reminder notice set-up – you may receive a maximum of only 2 reminder notices for a financial year. If you default on an instalment for a third time in the year your right to pay by instalments (for that year) is lost, and the whole outstanding balance for the year becomes due immediately. So, repeated missed or late payments will result in the Council asking for all your remaining Council Tax to be paid in one lump sum (this is when a final notice will be sent).

Where a reminder or final notice has been sent and the account has not been brought up to date or paid in full as requested, the Council will issue a summons. A summons is a document which tells a taxpayer that the Council will be asking the local Magistrates to grant a liability order to the Council against the taxpayer, for failure to pay Council Tax as required. The summons tells the taxpayer when the Council will make this request and invites the taxpayer to attend to state why payment has not been made. Whenever a summons is issued, summons costs are added to the account, and must be paid as part of the Council Tax debt.

The law allows very limited scope for Magistrates to refuse to grant a liability order to the Council. The following are examples of reasons for non-payment which will not stop a liability order being granted:

• I pay the Council Tax every month, but sometimes it’s a little late.
• I pay regularly through the year, but not on the dates the Council has requested.
• The Council took my instalments away, and asked me to pay the lot in one lump sum.
• I think the amount I’m being asked to pay is wrong.
• I can’t afford it at the moment – I’ll be able to catch up later in the year.

Attendance at the Magistrates Court is not compulsory, and in reality very few people who have been summonsed attend Court. Instead, many people contact the Council to make a payment arrangement which, if kept to, prevents any further action (known as enforcement action) being taken against them.

If a liability order is granted against you, the Council is then authorised to take enforcement action to recover any outstanding Council Tax. If, as stated above, a payment arrangement has been agreed and maintained, further action will not be necessary.

At this stage the Council has the legal right to request payments directly from your wages or salary, or from certain welfare benefits. The Council bailiff can also pay you a visit to arrange for payment, or seek to remove goods to the value of the outstanding debt (this is very rarely necessary). You should be aware that a visit by the bailiff can incur further costs for you. One of the other options open to the Council is to begin bankruptcy proceedings against anyone who is unwilling to agree payment and for whom the other enforcement actions aren't appropriate. This latter course of action has potentially large cost implications and can in some cases lead to the forced sale of your property.

To avoid any of the above actions being taken, please ensure your Council Tax is paid on time. If, however, you do get into difficulty please contact us immediately.

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