Paying Council Tax

Under the Local Government Finance Act 1992, we don’t need your consent or a contract between you and us to collect Council Tax.

Articles regarding Council Tax liability posted on the internet are not a basis for a defence when challenging your Council Tax liability.

If you have any questions about your Council Tax liability, you should contact our Council Tax team.

We don’t have a company number.  Details of all companies registered in England and Wales are available on the Companies House database.

Enforcement

If you don’t pay your Council Tax, we can take enforcement action.

If we decide to take enforcement action, an application is made to the Magistrate’s Court for a summons. If the application is successful, the Court’s legal advisor will tell us.

If a summons is created, we serve it under the Magistrate’s Court Rules 1981, in particular, section 99.

What happens next

The enforcement process usually follows the following steps:

• The court receives a “complaints list”, which includes the names, addresses and amounts owed by the people alleged to have defaulted on their Council Tax payments
• The Court Clerk reviews the “complaints list”
• If the Court Clerk is satisfied with the “complaints list”, they tell us that a summons has been approved
• We send a copy of the summons to each alleged defaulter, setting out the amounts we believe are owed and when the matter will be heard at the Magistrate’s Court
• The Magistrate’s Court considers the proceedings on the day of the hearing and makes an appropriate Order
• We tell you the outcome of the hearing