What happens if you do not pay Council Tax

What happens if you miss payments, do not pay after reminders or a final notice and what to do if you get a court summons or enforcement letter.

If you get a Council Tax reminder

If you miss a payment, your bill will be overdue. We will send you a reminder to pay in the post. Your reminder will be for the most recent payment date.

Pay as soon as you can and try not to miss another payment.

If you get a court summons

You may get a court summons if you miss more than one payment in a row.

A summons is a request for the court to grant a Liability Order against you. This means we can collect the rest of your Council Tax debt from you.

The summons will include a hearing date when you have to attend court.

If you pay the full amount or begin following the payment plan before the hearing date, we will not take further action against you.

You do not have to attend the court hearing, unless you want to.

If you have already paid your bill

You must send us proof if you have received a summons but have already paid your bill.

Send us proof you have already paid (choose Other for type of question).

You can also send proof by post to:

Council Tax
PO Box 34750
London
N7 9WF

Payment plan

If you cannot pay the balance in full before the summons hearing date, you may be able to apply for a special repayment plan. This may mean we will not take any more action against you.

We may still apply for a Liability Order but if you keep up payments on the agreed plan, we will not take any more action against you.

Apply for a payment plan.

Income and expenditure form

Complete the income and expenditure form if you:

cannot afford the payment plan
we ask for details of your income and spending

Complete the income and expenditure form.

If the court grants a Liability Order

If the court grants a Liability Order, there are different ways that we can collect the money. These include:

taking weekly or monthly deductions from your wages or salary
an enforcement agent may take your belongings and sell them at auction
taking money from certain benefits
starting bankruptcy proceedings against you
a Charging Order could be set against your property

If you get a letter from an enforcement agent

If you get a letter from an enforcement agent, you must call them now. We cannot help you when you get this letter and you must talk to them instead.

Have your Council Tax account number ready when you call them. Find out where you can find this number.

CDER Group

Newlyn

Equita

Rundles

What enforcement agents can charge

Enforcement agents can charge fees that you have to pay. How much you pay will depend on your situation.

There is a minimum fee of £75 and this will increase the more you owe in Council Tax.

You can get more information on enforcement agent fees from Citizens Advice.

Find out more about about your rights when an enforcement agent visits on GOV.UK.