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  5. I’ve received a reminder, final notice or summons letter – what should I do?

I’ve received a reminder, final notice or summons letter – what should I do?

If you have received a reminder, final notice or summons letter for Council Tax payment, here is some guidance.

Please note

If you miss three Council Tax payments in a financial year (April 1-March 31) then you will be required to pay your Council Tax balance in full. 

If you do not pay an instalment within seven days of a reminder letter or 14 days from final notice, you will be sent a court summons where you will have to pay court costs on top of your full Council Tax balance.

If you begin to struggle with the payments, please contact us immediately. We can offer options that could help your circumstances to help you avoid getting to these stages. 

First and second reminders

The first time you miss a payment you will get a first reminder. We wait until 14 days after each instalment date before sending out a reminder because we know it is not always possible to pay on the due date.

  1. If you pay the full instalment within seven days after this, then you can carry on with your monthly payments
  2. If you are struggling with payments, please contact us for options to help avoid incurring additional costs or needing to pay your full Council Tax balance upfront
  3. If you do not pay the outstanding amount within seven days you will not be sent any further reminders and you will be sent a court summons, where you will be required to pay your Council Tax balance in full, plus court costs

If you miss a payment a second time in the same financial year (April 1-March 31) you will be issued with a second reminder. You must pay and keep your account up to date if you want to carry on paying by instalments. If you do not pay, we will send you a court summons.

Final notice

If you miss a payment for a third time, no further reminders will be sent. We will send you a final notice. You will then be required to pay your Council Tax balance in full within 14 days.

If you have received a final notice letter from us, you can ask to set up a payment plan to pay off the outstanding amount.

Summons

A court summons will be sent to you if you do not pay your final notice within 14 days. This requires you to pay the full balance you owe, including any court costs.

If more than one person is named on the Council Tax bill, a summons will be issued to each person, but only one set of costs will be charged.

If you make a payment arrangement prior to the Court hearing you do not need to attend Court, however the Magistrates' Court will be asked to grant a Liability Order to secure the debt.

Help with payments

If you are struggling to pay Council Tax instalments on time, we can offer options that could help your circumstances.