Difficulty paying

If you are having difficulty making payments or falling behind with your Council Tax instalments please contact us. We will do all we can to help you.

We may be able to arrange a payment plan you can afford. If you do not let us know that you are having problems making regular payments, you may incur further costs and charges.

To consider an alternative payment arrangement, complete an income and expenditure form.  You can post this to us with the address on the form or upload your documents using our form.

Options to consider

• check to see if you are entitled to any discounts or exemptions 
• if you currently pay over ten months, you can request to extend your council tax instalments to end in March
• if you are on a reduced income you might qualify for Universal Credit and/or Council Tax Support
• use our benefit calculator to see what you might qualify for
• you can obtain free debt advice from the Money Advice Service

Reminders and final notices

We will try to accept a realistic offer based on your means. If you have received a reminder or a final notice and are unable to bring your account up to date, please complete and return an income and expenditure form along with a payment proposal. You also need to include three months' bank statements or evidence that you have sought financial help and are working through a financial plan to help you with your current financial circumstances.

Send your form and documents

Summons

If you do not pay your Council Tax after we have sent you a reminder and/or a final notice, then we will ask the Magistrates Court to issue a summons.

When the summons is issued a cost of £60 is added to your account. The summons will tell you the time, place and date of the hearing where the magistrates will decide whether they should issue a liability order against you. The summons will tell you the amount owed, the period it is for, and the costs you have to pay.

If you pay the amount shown on the summons in full, including the £60 costs before the hearing your case will not go to court. If you do not pay the full amount on the summons and the magistrates decide to issue a liability order against you, then an extra £50 costs could be added to your account.

You do not need to attend court. The magistrates will hear all the cases listed on the court list whether people attend or not.

If you think the summons is wrong, you must contact us before the court hearing. It may be possible to fix the issue, rather than wait until the court hearing when it may not be possible to resolve on the day.

Liability orders

A liability order gives us more power to collect the debt owed. The liability order will be issued if the amount shown on the summons has not been paid in full by the court hearing. The magistrates can also award costs against you, which you will have to pay. The costs are currently £110.00 (£60.00 for the issue of the summons and £50.00 for the granting of the liability order).

A liability order will normally be granted except where there is a valid defence against the issue of the liability order. The valid defences are:

• the Council Tax has not been properly set
• the property is not on the valuation list
• the total amount of the summons has been paid in full and a receipt is available and shown
• bills and reminders have not been sent (this is not the same as not being received)
• you are exempt from paying Council Tax
• you are not the person who is liable to pay the Council Tax that you have been summonsed for (this does not include minor mistakes like spelling of name or title)
• bankruptcy, winding up proceedings have commenced or an administration order/debt relief order has been made and the Council Tax is included
• the application for a liability order was made more than six years after the first demand was issued

Valid defences

If any of the above apply to you (or you think they may apply), contact us before the court hearing as it might be possible to resolve your query and therefore you will not have to attend court.

The following are not valid defences:

• you have money problems and cannot afford to pay
• you think Council Tax is unfair
• you have applied for Council Tax support, a discount or an exemption and you have not heard anything yet
• you think the Council Tax band for the property is wrong you have appealed to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
• you should still pay the amounts shown on the notices sent to you

The magistrates will not take your financial situation into account when making their decision or hear an argument unless it is a valid defence. We will take your financial situation into account when discussing how you are going to repay the debt. This is why it is important to contact us immediately when you get the summons.

Granted/awarded liability orders

A liability order gives us more powers to recover money owed and means we can take further action, including;

• requesting personal financial information which may include searching with a credit agency for information
• instructing enforcement agents (previously named bailiffs) to visit your home to recover the debt
• contacting your employer to have money taken directly from your earnings
• contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to have money taken directly from your benefits
• applying for a charging order on your property with the Land Registry
• applying to make you bankrupt (this will incur further costs)
• applying to the Magistrates Court for your committal to prison

If we can agree to a payment arrangement, we will still ask the magistrates to issue a liability order. If you keep to the arrangement no further recovery action will be taken. When setting up an arrangement you will be sent a payment arrangement letter detailing your instalments and the due dates.

These arrangements are strictly monitored. If you are unable to keep to the arrangement the debt will automatically be forwarded to our enforcement agents and further costs may be incurred.

Attachment of earnings

If a liability order has been signed, it permits us to take a percentage of your earnings directly from your employer.

Employers can read our attachment of earnings guide for more information about implementing an order.

Enforcement agents

Enforcement agents were previously known as bailiffs. The total fee that an agent can charge is £310, which includes a:

• £75 compliance fee, charged on receipt of a liability order from us and
• £235 enforcement fee, charged when the agent visits your property for the first time

This is in addition to the money owed to us.

You should try to make a payment plan with the agent. This will include the £75 compliance fee which will be taken with the first payment. If you do not respond to the letter from the agent or fail to stick to the payment plan the agent could return later to remove and sell your goods.

Further information can be found on GOV.UK.

Prison

If all other options fail, a summons may be issued for you to attend Maidstone Magistrates’ Court for a committal hearing.

If the outcome of this hearing considers you should have paid your Council Tax, a warrant of commitment may be issued, which means you have to go to prison for up to three months. This will also mean you have to pay extra costs.