What happens if I don't pay?

You’ll get a reminder from us after you miss a payment. If you pay what is owed within 7 days, you don’t need to do anything else.

If you don’t pay within 7 days of the first reminder, you will lose your right to pay by instalments and a summons will be issued.

If you pay by Direct Debit and your payment does not go through, we will not attempt to collect the payment a second time and you will be sent an amended demand notice with new instalments that must be paid by a different payment method.

If, after receiving and paying a first reminder notice, you miss another instalment, you will be sent a second reminder notice.

This will be the last reminder that you receive during the Council Tax year.

If you don’t pay within 7 days of the second reminder, you will lose your right to pay by instalments and a summons will be issued.

The third time you miss an instalment we will issue a final notice demanding the total balance outstanding for the remainder of the year meaning you have lost your right to continue paying in instalments.

You must pay the full balance amount within 7 days to avoid being sent a summons.

If you do not pay your instalment following a reminder or full balance following a final notice, we will apply to the Magistrates' court for a liability order. The issue of a court summons incurs a cost of £55 which will be added to your account balance.

A summons is a legal notice requiring that your case appear before the Magistrates' Court at a specified time and date. You are entitled to attend, however, there is no need to do so unless you can demonstrate a valid defence. 

Valid defences are:

• you are not liable for the period stated on the demand notice
• the amount has not been demanded in accordance with the statutory regulations
• the amount has been paid in full
• more than six years has elapsed since the day on which the charge became due
• bankruptcy (including individual voluntary arrangements) receivership or winding up proceedings have been initiated.

Please note, inability to pay is not a defence.

If you have received a summons and are experiencing difficulty paying or you believe that you have a valid defence, you should contact Revenues Services on 0115 901 3946 or revenues@gedling.gvo.uk before the Court hearing to discuss your situation.

If you have not paid your council tax in accordance with your demand notice then the Council will make a complaint to the Magistrates' Court.

If the Court is satisfied that the debt is owed then they will grant a Liability Order along with an order for costs of £25 which will be added to your account balance.

This order will compel you to make immediate payment of the total sum due.  If a Liability Order is granted you will be issued a financial statement to complete and return with your offer of repayment.

If within 14 days of the Court Hearing, you have not made full payment and no repayment arrangement has been offered and agreed, the Council will take further recovery action which may result in further costs.

You will now be subject to further recovery action. This can include:

• Ordering your employer to make deductions direct from your salary or wages
• Applying to the Department for Work and Pensions to make deductions from your welfare benefits
• If your council tax debt is more than £1,000 we can apply for a charging order if you own your property and we have tried unsuccessfully to collect the debt. If a charging order is granted, it means that if the property is sold, you will have to pay that debt off first plus any costs we have incurred before any of the proceeds are given to you. You do not have to sell your property once the final charging order is in place. There are some circumstances where we may apply to a court for force of sale.
• Apply to the High Court for a bankruptcy order. You will incur further costs, your assets will be sold and you will be unable to obtain credit.
• Passing your debt to Enforcement Agents. If your account has been passed to an Enforcement Agent, you must now contact the Agents to make arrangements for payment, you will also be liable to pay their fees.

Under The Taking Control of Goods (fee) Regulations 2014 there are fixed fees that an Enforcement Agent may recover from a debtor when carrying out enforcement work which are detailed below:-

Ratepayers will have to pay a £75 Compliance fee as soon as the Council passes an unpaid account to the agent for collection, this fee is payable per individual Order.

You will also have to pay a further enforcement fee of at least £235 if you do not make arrangements to pay or default on payments and a visit becomes necessary, this is a one off fee regardless of the number of Orders outstanding.

You will have to pay at least a further £110 at the sale or disposal stage.

A further 7.5% fee will also be charged on any additional amount above £1500, excluding fees, this is only chargeable at the enforcement or sale/disposal stages.

Gedling Borough Council employs the following Enforcement Agents 

Marston (Holdings) Limited

Marston

PO Box 324
Rossendale

BB4 0GE

0333 320 1822

Home - Marston Holdings

Rundle & Co Ltd

PO Box 11113
Market Harborough
Leicestershire

LE16 0JF 

0800 0816 000

Rundles | Debt Recovery Services & Enforcement Agents

• The final stage is a warrant of arrest being issued and exercising our right to bring you in for a committal hearing. This will incur further costs and the Magistrates may send you to prison for up to three months if they consider that you did not pay even though you had the money to do so.