If you pay by cash or card your instalments are due on the 15th of each month, with the first one due on 15th April. They are payable over 10 or 12 instalments.
If you miss an instalment, reminders are generally issued at the beginning of the next month. Occasionally, we have to run the reminders early and they may be issued at the end of the month that they are due. We also sometimes issue ‘pre-reminders’ by text or email, at the end of the month to prompt customers that they have an instalment due. If we issue three reminders within one financial year, the third reminder is called a final notice, and the instalment plan for that year will be cancelled. The full bill then becomes due. If you bring your instalments up to date at this point, please make sure you notify us so that we can manually re-instate your instalment plan.
The final notice can be issued after the first reminder if that instalment is not brought up to date. After the instalments have been cancelled by the final notice, if the balance is still outstanding, a Summons for non-payment will be issued. This will result in costs of £100.00 being added to your account. A Liability Order will be obtained from the Magistrates Court for any balance that is outstanding on the Court date.
Once a Liability Order has been granted the Council has the option of taking any of the following recovery methods:
Enforcement Agents (a pre enforcement letter will be issued first) .
If your account is referred to an enforcement agency for collection, you may incur additional fees as follows:
You are at risk of goods to the value of the debt being removed if you do not make payment of the debt.
An Attachment of Earnings is where your employer is instructed to take deductions, directly from your salary, to clear your Council Tax arrears. The payment rates are a percentage of your earnings, dependant on how much you earn. These rates are set by Central Government and we cannot change or cancel them.
If you are in receipt of a government benefit such as Universal Credit, Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment Support Allowance or Pension Credits, the Local Authority can ask the DWP to make deductions directly from your benefits against your arrears.
The deduction rate for Attachment of Benefits is set by Central Government and is reviewed annually. Deductions are generally 5% of the basic standard allowance.
If you own your property and have more than £1,000.00 in arrears, we can apply to the County Court for a Charging Order. This is a restriction that is registered against your property, on Land Registry. The arrears would be cleared from any sale or remortgage before you received any surplus funds.
However, if a suitable payment plan is not put in place once a Charging Order has been granted, the Local Authority can apply to the County Court for an Order for Sale. This would mean an eviction would be carried out and the property would be sold to clear any debt outstanding under the Order for Sale, plus any costs a granted under the Order by the Court – these can run into hundreds of pounds.
If you are experiencing difficulties, more help and information can be found here